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FAMOVS HOMES 

OF 

GREAT BRITAIN 

AND 

TMEIfV ST0I\1ES 




EDITED BY 
A. H.' MALAN 




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BELVOIR CASTLE 

BATTLE ABBEY 

CHARLECOTE 

PENSHURST 

BLENHEIM 

WARWICK 




CAWDOR CASTLE 

HOLLAND HOUSE 

CHATSWORTH 

HARDWICK 

ALNWICK 

LYME 




ILLUSTRATED 





G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York 

THE PALL MALL MAGAZINE, London 



MDCCCC 




5SS 






MX^ 



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TWO COPIES RECEIVED 



Library of Cn^ 
OffJce of the 

NOV? 7 ^^nn 

"'«"**' Of eepyrlghf* 



Copyright, 1899 



- ^ G.J'^PUTNAM'S SONS 

48532 





SECOND COPY, 



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Ube finlcfiei'bocfier ipcess, mew Jj^orli 



PREFACE 

It so materially adds to the pleasure of going over some 
stately Residence, to know something about its history and 
contents beforehand (thereby saving one the humiliating after- 
thought of having overlooked the more interesting details 
through pure ignorance), that no apology is needed for the pub- 
lication of the present work. 

For if the reader happens to have been inside a good many 
British Castles and Halls, it will surely have been noticed that 
the retainers, told off to show the people round, occasionally — 
from force of circumstances — lamentably fail as efficient cice- 
rones ; partly through too facile credence of inaccurate local 
hand-books, and partly through absorption of contradictory 
scraps of history, bewilderingly fired at them by random visit- 
ors who have assumed quite an air of authority in reference to 
the objects shown. 

The best sources of information on Historic Houses are 
County Histories, Papers in the various Antiquarian and Field- 
Club Societies' Transactions, and Private Family Memoirs. But 
these are not easily accessible ; and, supposing that they have 
been got at, such a mass of printed matter — much of it of the 
dullest description — has to be waded through, before any intelli- 
gent grasp of a family's history can be gained, that few ever 
make the attempt. 

The articles that follow have not been compiled without 
painstaking consultation of such records. In all cases they are 
based upon material to a large extent beyond the reach of the 



iv ipretace 

average guide-book scribe ; whether they have emanated from 
the pens of members of the Houses described, or have been 
supervised and supplemented by an owner or some erudite 
relative. 

Naturally, there will be found a difference in style and 
point of view ; also, more or less of that detachment which 
may be of service in handling a subject, as against over-famil- 
iarity with the theme. Blenheim, e. g., largely treats of its 
associations with the great Duke, as befits the gift of a nation to 
a man it delighted to honour. Charlecote evolves its story 
a good deal from its pictures. Warwick Castle shows the 
descriptive ability of the Chatelaine of that splendid strong- 
hold. Battle Abbey inevitably has a Norman and monastic 
flavour. 

But differ as they may in treatment, the writers have been at 
one in endeavouring to make their contributions bright, though 
historical, and sufficiently diversified in points touched upon to 
suit the palate of the general reader. For, though those beauti- 
ful Homes invite and merit exclusive attention to their leading 
features, whether in the way of Architecture, Tapestry, Sculp- 
ture, Armour, old Paintings, Carved Wood, or Landscape Gar- 
dening, the general reader is apt to fight very shy of a technical 
treatise, however seductive the subject, or noteworthy the 
examples. 

My thanks are due to those authors who have kindly re- 
vised their respective papers since their first appearance in the 
pages of the Pall Mall Maga:(ine; and, whatever faults there may 
be in the volume, as a whole, it will be found, it is hoped, at 
least free from the more flagrant defects of pedantry, twaddle, 

and gush. 

A. H. Malan. 

The Sanctuary, 

Altarnon, Cornwall, June, i8pp 



CONTENTS 



Belvoir Castle A. H. Malan i 

Situated near Grantham in Lincolnshire, and is the seat of the Dukes 
of Rutland. It was built by Robert de Todenci, a Norman, and 
originally belonged to Lord Ros. On the death of Edward, Lord 
Ros, on the 13th of October, 1508, it passed to his sister, Eleanor, 
who was married to Sir Robert Manners, one of the ancestors of 
the present Duke of Rutland. The house was rebuilt in 1555 by 
Henry Manners, the second Earl of Rutland. As regards the Rut- 
land family, it may be mentioned that Elizabeth, the daughter of 
Edward Manners, the third Earl, married the great Lord Burleigh. 
Katherine, the daughter of Francis, the sixth Earl, married the first 
Duke of Buckingham, who was assassinated by Felton. The second 
title of the Dukes of Rutland, "The Marquis of Granby," is im- 
mortalised by Dickens. 

Blenheim .... The Duke of Marlborough 33 

Situated at Woodstock in Oxfordshire, and is the home of the Dukes 
of Marlborough. The history of the first Duke is the history of Eng- 
land during the latter part of the seventeenth and beginning of the 
eighteenth centuries. The manor of Woodstock was granted to him 
by Queen Anne, at the desire of Parliament, in recognition of the 
victory of Blenheim, and, by the Queen's orders, the mansion itself 
was erected. Blenheim is the most splendid residence in the world 
owned by a private individual, and there are not many royal palaces 
in Europe which can vie with it in magnificence. 

Hard wick Hall A. H. Malan 77 

One of the seats of the Dukes of Devonshire. Situated in Derby- 
shire about eight or ten miles south-east of Chesterfield, near the 
border of Nottinghamshire. It is a beautiful example of a stately, 
late Tudor home, and contains countless treasures of the past. 



VI 



Contents 



Charlecote Richard Davey 109 

The home of the Lucys. Situated in Warwickshire, near Stratford- 
upon-Avon, in the heart of Shakespeare's country. A tradition 
exists among the Lucy family, handed down from generation to 
generation, that Shakespeare was prosecuted by Sir Thomas Lucy, 
in 1592, for stealing buck out of his park at Charlecote. 

Holland House . . . The Hon. Caroline Roche 137 

Situated at Kensington, in the West End of London, and is the town 
residence of the Earls of Ilchester. An absolutely unique house. 
A beautiful Elizabethan building, standing amidst lovely gardens 
and woods, almost in the heart of the greatest city in the world, 
a treasure house of works of art ; during a hundred years the resort 
of all the great literary men England produced, Holland House 
remains an ideal city home without rival. 

Cawdor Castle Viscount Emlyn 167 

Situated in the County of Nairn, Scotland. It is the seat of the 
Earls of Cawdor. 

" All hail, Macbeth ! Hail to thee, 
Thane of Cawdor ! " 

A most interesting old Scottish fortress-dwelling in the midst of 
lovely scenery and full of historic interest. 

Battle Abbey . . . The Duchess of Cleveland 197 

Situated at Battle in Sussex. It is the home of the Dukes of Cleve- 
land. The mansion is built in the grounds of the Benedictine Abbey, 
which was founded by William the Conqueror after the battle of 
Hastings. The site of the battle of Hastings is immediately below 
the windows of the Abbey. The Duchess of Cleveland, who has 
contributed the article, is the mother of the Earl of Rosebery. 

Chatsworth A. H. Malan 231 

Situated in Derbyshire, and is one of the seats of the Duke of Devon- 
shire. The building of Chatsworth was commenced in the reign of 
Queen Mary by Sir William Cavendish, who was the husband of 
the famous Bess of Hardwick. A huge, stately palace, with cele- 
brated gardens, designed by Sir Joseph Paxton. 



Contents 



Vll 



PAGE 

Lyme The Dowager Lady Newton 263 

Situated in the County of Cheshire. A stately Palladian house in 
an immense parl<, and the home of the Leghs of Lyme, a family who 
can trace unbroken descent for a thousand years. Mr. Legh of Lyme 
is now Lord Newton. 

Penshurst .... Lady de L'Isle and Dudley 295 

Situated near Tunbridge in Kent. It is the home of the Barons de 
L'Isle and Dudley, to which family belonged the famous Sir Philip 
Sidney, the celebrated Algernon Sidney, and Dorothy, Countess of 
Sunderland, the "Sacharissa" of Waller. Penshurst is one of the 
most beautiful old houses imaginable, and a perfect example of an 
English feudal dwelling. 

Warwick Castle . . The Countess of Warwick 327 

Situated in the County of Warwick, and is the home of the Earls 
of Warwick. Warwick Castle is one of the great historic houses 
of the world, and is a veritable treasure-house of precious things. 
Parts of the castle are of almost unknown antiquity. 

Alnwick Castle' A. H. Malan 367 

Situated in Northumberland, and is the home of the Percys, Dukes 
of Northumberland. The Barony of Alnwick was purchased by 
Henry de Percy in 1309 from the then Bishop of Durham. The 
famous Hotspur was a son of the fourth Earl Percy of Alnwick 
(see Chevy Chace). A grand example of a feudal castle. 

' Copyright 1899 by William Waldorf Astor. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Alnwick Castle, South Front 



Frontispiece 



Belvoir Castle 



From Photographs by A. H. Ma Ian 

Regent's Tower and Bastion . . 
The Castle from the " Duke's Walk " . 
The Marquis of Granby and his Sister . 

From the Painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds 

Belvoir Castle from the Lower Lake 
In the Mausoleum 
Great Silver Punch-Bowl 
The Guard-Room . 
King Henry Vlll. . 

From the Painting by Holbein 

The Picture Gallery 
Crowning of St. Catharine . 

From the Painting by Rubens 

The " Beautiful " Duchess of Rutland . 

After Sir Joshua Reynolds 

A Corner of the Elizabeth Saloon . 

Three Miniatures of the " Beautiful " Duchess 

Old Tapestry from Haddon . 

The Grand Corridor 

The Library .... 

A Corner of the Duke's Garden 

The Spring Garden 



3 
4 

5 

7 
8 

9 
II 

12 

15 

17 
19 

20 

21 

23 

25 
27 



ir 



X 



miustratlons 



South-west Front of the Castle . . . . . 

Bottesford Church, near Belvoir 

Monument to the Sixth Earl of Rutland and his Family, in 
Bottesford Church 



PAGE 
28 

31 



Blenheim and its Memories 

Blenheim Palace 35 

Rosamond's Well, Woodstock 37 

Angle Tower 40 

The High Lodge, Woodstock .41 

Sir John Vanbrugh 43 

From the Painting by Kneller 

The Saloon 45 

Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough .... 47 

From the Painting by Kneller 

The Battle of Oudenard 49 

From the Blenheim Tapestry 

Facsimile of a Letter written on the Day of the Battle of Mal- 

plaquet by the Duke to the Duchess of Marlborough . 5 1 

John, Duke of Marlborough =52 

From the Painting by Kneller 

The Entrance Hall 53 

The Great Library 57 

John, Duke of Marlborough 60 

From a Print 

Sword of Honour presented to John, Duke of Marlborough, 

and Queen's Flag for 1894 61 

Statue of Queen Anne in the Great Library .... 63 

Facsimile Letters of Mr. Pope to the Duchess of Marlborough, 65, 68 

Bust of John, Duke of Marlborough 69 

Blenheim Palace, South Front 72 

Tomb of John, Duke of Marlborough, in Blenheim Chapel . 73 



and ''Spanish 



IfllustratioriB xi 

Hard wick 

From Photographs by A. H. Malan 

PAGE 

Hardwick Hall, showing Initials on Parapet 
Ruins of Old Hardwick Hall . 

Entrance Hall 

Tapestry representing the " Prodigal Son 

Wedding" . . . 

Chimneypiece in Dining-Room . . . 

Doll's Tea Service ; and Grand Falconer's Badge in Oak 

The Drawing-Room, showing Arms of the Countess of 

Shrewsbury 

"Judgment of Solomon " 

" Sacrifice of Isaac " 

Mary, Queen of Scots 

Portion of Bed-Curtains worked by Mary, Queen of Scots . 

View of the Long Gallery 

View of the Long Gallery 

The "Queen's" End of the Long Gallery, with Portrait of 

Queen Elizabeth 

The Presence Chamber, showing Arms of Queen Elizabeth 

over the Fireplace . . . between pages loo and loi 
The " Duke's " End of the Long Gallery, with Portrait of First 



79 
8i 

8} 

85 
86 

86 

87 
89 

90 

91 

93 
95 
97 

99 



Duke in Centre and " 
The Library . 
Arabella Stuart as a Child 
The Green Room . 
Arabella Stuart, xt. \^ . 



Beautiful " Duchess on the Left 



lOI 
10} 

104 

105 
107 



Charlecote 



Charlecote from the River Avon 
The Hall .... 



113 
115 



xu 



■flllustratlone 



The Entrance Gate, said to have been designed by John of 

Padua 117 

Tomb of Sir Thomas and Lady Lucy, in Charlecote Church . 119 

The Garden Front 121 

The Drawing-Room 123 

Entrance to Gardens . . 125 

In the Gardens 127 

Charlecote Church 129 

The Library 131 

Charlecote from the Front 133 

Holland House 

Holland House, South Side 139 

Holland House, North Front , .141 

Holland House, from the North-west 143 

In the Gardens 145 

The Sir Joshua Reynolds Room 147 

The Breakfast Room 149 

Addison's Room, so called because Joseph Addison died in 

this Room isi 

The Library . . . 153 

The West Front, from the Dutch Garden . . . .154 

The Gilt Room 155 

Lady Ilchester's Sitting-Room, containing Relics of Napoleon, 1 57 
Elizabeth Vassall, Lady Holland . . . . . .158 

From the Painting by G. Fagan 

Elizabeth Vassall, Lady Holland 1^9 

From the Painting by Gaujfrier, A.D. 7795 

Lady Sarah Lenox, Charles James Fox, and Lady Susan 

Strangeways . . . 160 

Painted at Holland House by Sir Joshua Reynolds 

The Green Lane 161 

Louis Philippe's Walk, in the Gardens 163 



miustratione 



Xlll 



Cawdor Castle 



Cawdor Castle 169 

Fro7n a Drawing by R. IV. Billings 

Facsimileof Charter granted by King Alexander II., A. D. 1236, 171 

From the "Booh of Caivdor " 

The Dungeon, showing Hawthorn Tree and Treasure Chest, 173 

From a Photograph by Valentine, Dundee 

The Drawbridge 175 

From a Photograph by Valentine, Dundee 

King Duncan's Room 177 

From a Photograph by Valentine, Dundee 

Ancient Handbell, formerly in the Chapel . . . .178 
Chimneypiece in the Dining-Room 179 

From a Photograph by Valentine, Dundee 

The Dining-Room 181 

From a Photograph by Valentine, Dundee 

Lady Henrietta's Needle, in Achniem Burn, Cawdor Woods, 183 

From a Photograph by Valentine, Dundee 

At the Hermitage 185 

From a Photograph by Valentine, Dundee 

Drynachan 187 

Cawdor Castle, from the Burn . . . . . .189 

From a Photograph by Wilson, Aberdeen 

Gateway from the Middle to the Lower Court . . .190 
The Drawing-Room 191 

From a Photograph by Wilson, Aberdeen 

Curiously Carved Chimneypiece in the Blue Room . .193 
Cawdor, from the Garden .194 



Battle Abbey 



The Gateway 199 

The Entrance to Battle Abbey, showing Roof of Great Hall . 201 
Garden Front, showing Remains of the Cloisters . . .213 



XIV 



miustratione 



The Drawing-Room 


. 


219 


The Crypt 


223 


Chatsworth 




From Photographs by A. H. Ma Ian 




Chatsworth, from the Park 


233 


Mary's Bower 


235 


The Oak Parlour 


237 


Entrance Gateway 


239 


Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and Child (Lady Carlisle), 


241 


After Sir Joshua Reynolds 




The Chapel 


243 


Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire 




245 


Lady Elizabeth Foster 




246 


Carved Chimneypiece, State Dining-Room . 




247 


A Ceiling in One of the State Rooms . 




249 


" Rending the Tomb " 




250 


Portrait of First Duke of Devonshire 




251 


Lord Pembroke and Sister 




254 


After Van Dyck 






Beer Butts in the Cellar 




255 


Wellington Rock 




256 


Views of the Temple Cascade . . . . 


257 


, 259 


Chatsworth, West Front 


, , 


261 



Lyme 
From Original Drawings by the Dowager Lady Newton 

Lyme, North Front 265 

The Italian Garden 267 

The South Front 269 

The Terrace 271 



IfUustrationa 



XV 



The '' Lantern " 273 

The Drawing-Room 275 

The Drawing-Room, with the Picture-Panel open, showing 

the Entrance Hall 277 

The Hall, with Picture-Panel open 279 

The Stag Parlour 281 

The Long Gallery, showing Chimneypiece with the Arms of 

Queen Elizabeth 285 

A Corner of the Saloon . . . . . . . . 287 

Gloves of King Charles 1 288 

'' Lyme Cage," an Ancient Landmark 289 

A Lyme Mastiff 290 

After the Painting by J. T. Nettleship 

In the Court 291 



Penshurst and its Memories 



Penshurst, from the Gardens 


• 297 


The Great Hall, showing Ancient Central Hearth . 


• 299 


Queen Elizabeth's Room 


. 301 


The Picture Gallery ....... 


. 303 


Sir Philip Sidney 


• 304 


After Zucchero 




A Corner in the China Closet 


• 305 


Old Clock in Dining-Room 


. 307 


Lady Dorothy Sidney-" Sacharissa " .... 


. 309 


After Van Dyck 




Old Spinet . . . . . . . 


. 311 


The Ballroom 


• 313 


The Vestibule . 


• 315 


The Corridor 


• 317 


The Panel Room, showing Algernon Sidney's Boots . 


• 319 


Sword of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester . 


■ 321 



xvi miustraUons 

PAGE 

" Diana's Bath " .323 

Sun-Dial in the Garden 325 

In the Gardens 326 

Warwick Castle 

Warwick Castle 329 

Guy's Tower 331 

Warwick Castle from the River Avon . . • . . -333 

The Gateway -335 

The Great Hall ,. . -337 

A Corner of the Hall 341 

''Guy's Porridge-Pot" 345 

Oliver Cromwell's Helmet -347 

Queen Elizabeth's Violin 349 

Queen Elizabeth's Saddle 351 

In the Armoury -353 

The Servants' Hall 357 

Lady Warwick's Boudoir 359 

A Corner in Lady Warwick's Room 363 

Alnwick Castle 



From Photographs hy A. H. Malan 



The Keep, from Barniside . . . . 

The Keep 

Prudhoe Tower, Chapel, etc. 

The Barbican 

Draw- Well and Norman Arch in Keep Court 
The Ravine Tower, from the Battlements 

The Library 

The Drawing-Room 



369 

371 

373 

375 

377 

379 
381 

383 



miuatrations 



XVll 



The Dining-Room 

Raffael's " Madonna Del Garofani " 
Canaletto's View of the East Front of the Castle 
The Castle, from the '' Dairy Ground " . 
Garret on Battlements of Keep 
A View in the " Dairy Ground " . 



385 
387 
389 

390 

391 

393 



i 



Belvoir Castle 



f 




REGENT'S TOWER AND BASTION 



BELVOIR CASTLE 



BY A. H. MALAN 



WHETHER considered as a subject in itself, or as a 
standpoint for surveying the surrounding country, 
Belvoir eminently deserves its title — Fair View. 
Should you approach from Grantham, it will not be visible until 
quite near Woolsthorpe ; but if you alight at Sedgebrook station, 
it will be seen at once, rising up in the distance beyond some 
intervening miles of level ground. The Castle is most pictur- 
esquely perched aloft, standing out clearly defined against the 
sky, except when a smoky haze, generated it may be amid the 
works of Nottingham, descends without warning upon it. From 
the terrace, looking fenwards, about thirty miles towards and be- 
yond Newark, and also towards Lincoln, are included in the field. 
As a countryman descriptively remarked: "There's a grarncl 



Belvoir Castle 



view from yon hill ; you can see far off and a long way too ! " 
In fact, when the cresset blazed forth from one of Belvoir's tur- 
rets at the Diamond 



Jubilee, if the night 
were clear, any an- 
swering signals on 
the Cathedral were 
very likely visible, 
since the towers 
thereof are plainly 
seen by daylight. 

From Norman 
times, at any rate, 
Belvoir has been a 
stronghold, the Con- 
queror's standard- 
bearer, Todeni, hav- 
ing erected a fortress 
there. After an era 
of some Albinis, this 
passed to the De Ros 
family, by whom it was held until Thomas, Lord Ros, a Lancas- 
trian, was attainted in 1461, when it was given by Edward IV. to 
Lord Hastings. Given, but not enjoyed ! For up rose a friend 
of the late owner, and withstood the intruder. Whereupon 
Hastings came along with a large force, and "with a bitterness 
of rage scarcely intelligible, so injured the fabric that the Castle 
fell to ruin." The lead was ripped off, roofs left to rot, soil be- 
tween the walls grew elders ; and so ended the original building. 
Twenty years later, the estate was reconveyed to Edmund, 
the next Lord Ros, at whose death the barony and estates fell 
into abeyance among his sisters ; the succession being eventually 




THE CASTLE FROM THE DUKE'S WALK" 



Belpoir dastle 




determined in favour of the eldest sister, who had married Sir 
Robert Manners of Ethale. 

Then Thomas, Lord Ros, created Earl of Rutland, 1526, ad- 
dressed himself to rebuild- 
ing the Castle, the work 
being completed, 1555, by 
his heir, the second Earl ; 
whose younger brother, by 
the way, might probably 
have married Dorothy Ver- 
non of Haddon without 
any romantic elopement — 
if elopement there were — 
since it was a good enough 
match on both sides. 

The new Castle en- 
joyed a period of unevent- 
ful history until 1642, when it became the main object of attack 
of Sir Gervase Lucas and other " malignants," through the then 
Earl of Rutland attaching himself to the Parliamentary cause. 
Sir Gervase took it and held it for the King, making raids " with 
other vile villains and cormorants," as their opponents called 
them, and being in turn raided himself. Charles 1. slept there, 
August 5, 1645, and proceeded to Banbury ; but the convoy 
which conducted him was on its return set upon and routed by 
General Pointz, who, forthwith besieging the Castle, met with 
stubborn resistance for four months. At the end of that period, 
however, a party, of whom the Earl of Rutland was one, was 
sent down from London to negotiate a surrender ; the knowledge 
that the besieged had provisions for some months, while the 
besiegers' mortarpiece had exhausted all her grenades, and no 
additional shells were forthcoming, as purposed, from Reading, 



THE MARQUIS OF QRANBY AND HIS SISTER 

SIR J. REYNOLDS 



6 Belvoir (Tastle 

through "the ways being impassable," prompting an offer of 
more generous terms than could well be looked for. The offer 
was accepted ; the garrison marched out, colours flying, drums 
beating, matches lighted ; to be immediately replaced by some 
Parliamentary troops. These being ordered, 1648, to quit Bel- 
voir, the Castle was then restored to its rightful owner ; but the 
following year the Commons ordered it to be demolished, and 
that the Earl should receive fifteen hundred pounds by way of 
compensation, "with which the Earl of Rutland was content." 
It may have saved him presently taking down weakened walls ; 
anyhow, he resided at Haddon till 1653, when he rebuilt Belvoir, 
and added gardens. 

A model of the building he erected is still to be seen, 
fashioned in wood, to scale, it represents a plain square two- 
storeyed block with a central court ; a causeway leading up to 
the principal entrance, which was set back some distance from the 
outside walls. Two paintings also of the same building hang in 
the corridor of the family wing, showing the road winding round 
the knoll like a corkscrew, and the Belvoir hounds in the fore- 
ground, apparently in the act of hunting some deer, while the 
real object of their pursuit is a fox, in the middle distance, 
flitting between the foliage of the trees like a flushed woodcock. 

The building of which we speak continued until 1801, when 
the fifth Duke ^ began replacing it by an edifice on a far grander 
scale. In 18 16, however, when the work was almost completed, 
a deplorable fire consumed the north-east and north-west fronts, 
and was only stayed from further ravages by a doorway in the 
centre of the long gallery being hastily bricked up. The de- 
struction of pictures on that occasion was immense : no less than 
nineteen Sir Joshuas perished, among them being the huge can- 
vas, twelve feet by eighteen feet, of "The Nativity," painted in 

' The tenth Earl was created Duke. 



8 



Belvoir Castle 



1780 as the central piece for the window in New College, and 

purchased by the Duke of Rutland for twelve hundred guineas. 

The following year the work was recommenced ; and that 

piety which led the builder to have inscribed on the central 

tower, "NISI DOMINVS ^DIFI- 
CAVERIT DOMVM," etC, will, 

we may well believe, ever 
safeguard this castellated 
pile, even as the same 
inscription, in English, safe- 
guarded Smeaton's Eddy- 
stone lighthouse. 

Though the need has 
passed, the idea of a strong- 
hold has been admirably 
preserved. Here are can- 
nons, a present from the 
Regent, — ultima ratio reg- 
um, as they attest, — mount- 
ed upon the bastion, to 
command the only road ; 
there is but one entrance to 
afford admittance, with the 
exception of a small door, 
with a porter at hand ; it is 
impossible to walk round the Castle, unless you get the two 
towers on the terrace unlocked ; or, if you should enter the 
subterranean passage from the outworks to the cellars, there 
you find another cannon at the end, all ready to rake the tunnel. 
As to the architecture, it is bold, massive, and of most noble 
pretensions. The north-east and north-west fronts, designed by 
Sir John Thoroton, were built after the fire : the south-east and 




IN THE MAUSOLEUM 



Belvoir Castle 




GREAT SILVER PUNCH-BOWL 



south-west fronts, designed by Wyatt, before it. Much of the 
exterior is in the Norman style ; the Chapel is Perpendicular ; 
some of the corridors, etc., have details borrowed from Lincoln 
Cathedral. Passing through the Decorated porch, and passage 
lined with flint-locks, the Guard-room, then entered, is typical 
of the general style 
of the landings and 
galleries : groined 
roof, with bosses at 
intersection of ribs ; 
pillars studded with 
ball-flower ; low 
two-centred arches. 
Over the fireplace 
are pictures of James 
I., Charles 1., Mary 
II., rescued from the fire at the expense of their frames. Two 
glazed recesses contain some of the effects of the Marquis of 
Granby, who distinguished himself in the Seven Years' War at 
Minden and Kirchdenkern ; afterwards becoming Commander- 
in-Chief, and lending his title to many an inn, like the one at 
Dorking, whose hostess old Weller married, in Pickwick. 

The basement being given up to kitchens, steward's rooms, 
and the accompanying adjuncts of a large house, we may pass 
over them, and make for another vaulted chamber at the oppos- 
ite end. Situated at the foot of the Staunton Tower, and now 
used as a wine-cellar, this is interesting as being the oldest bit 
— probably original Norman masonry. There are suggestive hints 
that the present floor is not the bottom of all things, the ribs 
ending prematurely, and seeming to pass down farther. The 
keystone has been a bone of contention among antiquarians ; 
possibly the visible disc is a later insertion ; the centre letter ap- 



lo Belvoir Castle 

pears to be a Longobardic M, but the designs round the border, 
like fleurs-de-lys, certainly look rather archaic. 

Returning to the main staircase, and ascending to the Guard- 
room Gallery, we may make our way, after a look at two old 
inlaid corselets on the parapet, to the Chapel. It is the height of 
this and the next storey — say forty feet. It contains "The Holy 
Family," by Murillo, as the altar-piece ; the Bible, in two vol- 
umes (dated 1680), on pedestals in niches ; and, displayed against 
the wall opposite the south-west windows, are three large bright 
strips of tapestry, (of Mortlake manufacture, from Raphael's car- 
toons,) curtailed in size, it is said, to fit the space, and arranged 
in proper sequence according to the suggestions of the Empress 
Frederick. Here prayers are said daily by the chaplain. 

Beyond the Chapel is the family wing, opening on to a 
terrace facing south, and communicating, through the detached 
corner tower, with another terrace below — a delectable spot this 
latter, where magnolias and banksias sun themselves against the 
batter of the rampart. But the view from the upper terrace is 
very beautifully sylvan. To the right, the eye traverses a long 
wooded ridge, capped here and there with conifers ; immediately 
beneath are some royal trees with plenty of room to grow in ; 
in front, more woodland, sloping down to lakes backed by Black- 
berry Hill ; to the left, the pleasant village of Woolsthorpe, 
with its church. 

Passing back to the Guard-room Gallery, and up to the Earls" 
Gallery (on the principal storey), where are hung portraits of 
the eight Earls, and of George Villiers (Felton's victim), who 
married Catharine, daughter of the sixth Earl of Rutland, let the 
tlrst room entered be the Picture Gallery. Built for the purpose, 
with a top light above the coving and frieze, there are happily 
neither reflections from windows, nor streaks of sunshine, nor 
other hindrances to reposeful contemplation. After breakfast is 




II 



12 



Belvoir Castle 




the best time to come here ; and if armed with the catalogue, 
and Mr. Redford's comments — so much to the point — and re- 
clining in one of the six elaborately carved chairs from the Bor- 
ghese Palace at Rome, there is every reason why a delightful and 
most instructive morning should be spent. The place of honour 
^.-.a:-^...: . ..-«.,.,..-.., ..^....^ is given to Holbein's 

' " - " Henry VIII., very 

highly finished, and full 
of richest detail — "the 
best of all existing full- 
length portraits of this 
monarch.'' It is flanked 
by two Gainsboroughs; 
and opposite is Sir 
Joshua's " Marquis of 
Granby and his Sister," 
afterwards Lady Eliza- 
beth Norman. Near 
the latter is that feast 
of good things, Teniers' 
" Proverbs" ; the easi- 
est of the twenty-four 
proverbs to be deciph- 
ered being the follow- 
ing : "Much Cry and Little Wool" — a man shearing his pig; 
"More Ways than One" — a cow having tumbled into a well, 
instead of pulling her out her owner throws in gravel to raise 
her; a method of procedure hardly applicable to bogs ! " Labour 
in Vain " — two women winding tlax in opposite directions from 
one spindle ; " Those Born to be Hanged will never be 
Drowned "—a man falls into a river, and his friend consolingly 
points to the gallows. Opposite the door we entered is a 



KING HENRY VIII. 

HOLBEIN 




THE PICTURE GALLERY BELVOIR CASTLE 



13 



14 



15eIvolr Castle 



huge canvas, "Crowning of St. Catharine,"" (Rubens) — a richly 
dressed female, probably the second wife of Rubens, Helena 

Forman. Then there are the 
Sacraments, by Poussin, six 
in number, secured by Sir 
Joshua for Belvoir, to the 
annoyance of the authori- 
ties at Rome ; several let- 
ters from Sir Joshua being 
extant relating to this ac- 
quisition, which cost three 
thousand pounds. The 
"Baptism of Christ' was 
a gift of George the Fourth 
to the fourth Duke. The 
m/55/'//^ sacrament is " Pen- 
ance." Space forbids men- 
tion of more pictures; all are 
gems, there is absolutely no rubbish ; and the light is so exactly 
what it should be that there is no difficulty with the camera — 
a rather unusual experience. 

Let us proceed next to the Dining-room. Besides large 
portraits of the Marquis of Granby, and the fourth Duke in Lord- 
Lieutenant robes (both by Sir Joshua), and tall semicircular- 
headed recesses filled with plate-glass, and extending from ceiling 
to sideboard, there is a table apparently covered with a white 
cloth, fresh from the press, the folds scarcely smoothed out. 
You would hardly guess, unless you touched it, that the table- 
top is of solid marble, so truthfully has it been carved by M. 
Wyatt. It sometimes supports a silver punch-bowl, chased, 
"oval-impaled," peacock-handled, dated ibSi — a truly extensive 
piece of plate, weighing 1979 oz. 10 dwt. But, just as Holbein's 




CROWNING OF ST. CATHARINE 

RUBENS 



Belvoir Castle 



15 



** Henry VIII." is not so valuable as the tiny "Birdcage" of 
Gerard Douw, below it, so the market value of this bowl, capa- 
ble of holding fifty-two gal- 
lons, is very far exceeded 
by that of a small basin 
(1581) and its attendant 
vase, seen in another part 
of the house. Placed here 
against the wall, between 
two windows, the punch 
cistern stands in its own 
light ; which of course does 
not at all signify, as arti- 
ficial light is much more 
suitable for '' splicing the 
main-brace." But one can 
imagine it set (for contrast) 
on a black oak table, under 
the beech in the garden, 
west of the Regent's Tower, 
at a garden-party. There 
it would indeed be a strik- 
ing, beautiful object ; and 
useful withal, since it might dispense lemonade to the assem- 
blage, or even refreshing draughts of claret-cup — a beverage 
scarcely potent enough, surely, to wound even the most sus- 
ceptible temperance principles. 

Opposite the Dining-room is the threshold of the Elizabeth 
Saloon, possessing a Verrio-like ceiling, satin panels on walls, 
Louis Quatorze decorations, furniture from a chateau of Madame 
de Maintenon. Here are two pictures (Sanders), hinged on 
easels, of the fifth Duke, in Coronation robes, and his Duchess ; 




THE BEAUTIFUL" DUCHESS OF RUTLAND 

AFTER SIR J. REYNOLDS 



1 6 ISelvoir Castle 

several panels of valuable miniatures, arranged in chronological 
order by Lady Granby, and recently catalogued by Lady Victoria 
Manners ; the gold key of the Staunton Tower — an emblem of 
feudal tenure, by the presentation of which to the Sovereign, 
when visiting the Castle, Staunton of Staunton ^ holds his lands 
in the Vale. A sumptuous apartment this, for full-dress parade, 
after dinner ; the antithesis to it being a plain little room off the 
Guard-room, much affected by men, not only when the parade 
is over, but at other times as well. In the den in question the 
most conspicuous picture is a painting of a rather celebrated 
specimen of the Belvoir hounds, in the extremely stiff but natural 
attitude which that particular hound assumed when brought out 
to be shown off. The description of the celebrity is as follows:— 

"gambler, by weather-gauge — GRATITUDE. 

"Measurement in inches: — 

" Height, 23 full ; length, from extreme end of shoulder to 
do. of quarter, 27^ ; elbow to ground, 12 ; arm, 8^ ; below knee, 
^l ; girth, 31; across quarter, 7; round thigh below stifle, 9^; 
neck extended, 10; head, ic^." 

From the Saloon we enter the Grand Corridor, part of which 
is also the Ball-room ; 'the soft oak floor contrasting very favour- 
ably with the perilously polished boards of the Picture Gallery, 
all too redolent of turpentine and beeswax. This corridor is one 
hundred and twenty feet long, in the spandrils between the 
bays, at either end of the Ball-room portion, are the arms of Man- 
ners and Howard, in glass and stone. The couches are draped 
in golden satin ; and among the array of life-size portraits one 
of the "Beautiful Duchess" arrests the eye. in all probability 
Sir Joshua took great pains with this picture, out of compliment 

' Staunton Hall is a ciiarniinn; old house, a few miles from Belvoir. 




A CORNER OF THE ELIZABETH SALOON, BELVOIR CASTLE 



17 



■ I 



Bel voir Castle 19 

to his patron ; but the face is not so lovely as one of the same 
subject in No. 8 panel of the Saloon. The panel must needs 
be specified, as, amongst the miniatures, there are no less than 
ten portraits of this Duchess. She was Mary Isabella, daughter 






THREE MINIATURES OF THE BEAUTIFUL" DUCHESS 

of the fourth Duke of Beaufort ; and, as wife of the Lord- 
Lieutenant of Ireland, kept a grand Court at Dublin. There 
is a quaint water-colour in the Billiard-room, in which she is 
seen driving in a high-seated cabriolet from Dunleary to Dublin 
{circa 1785), while the country people fly out of her way before 
the six white ponies. 

To save space, we must pass over the Chinese suite, entered 
from this point, with their japanned door panels of Chinese work, 
furniture bedecked with silk flowers on a yellow ground, Chinese 
silk on such walls as are not covered with Chinese paper ; but 
we must notice, just beyond the Ball-room, a piece of arras from 
Haddon, with the old shield of England in the centre — a beau- 
tiful piece of work, colouring subdued and toned down by age. 
The device looks at the first glance like the Rutland shield, but 
it has one fleur-de-lys and one lion too many ; the first Earl 
being permitted to assume part of the Royal arms, owing to 
his descent from the sister of Edward IV. And this may per- 
haps account for the local belief that the Royal standard can 
be flown from the Castle when Royalty is not present ; at 



20 



:©eIvoir Castle 



any rate the Rutland chars^e on a flag might easily be mis- 
taken for the Royal arms, whether there is any truth in the 
tradition or not. 

A passage conducts us westward to an ante-room, on the 

shelves of which 
are the Chronicles of 
the Hounds of Bel- 
voir, duly recorded 
by the owners, from 
1800 to the present ; 
and this ante -room 
adjoins the Library. 
The Library and 
its smaller neighbour 
beyond together 
contain about seven 
thousand volumes, 
inclusive of a Brevia- 
ry, and a Roman mis- 
sal ; Bocha's Falles of 
Prvnces in luglvsch, 
temp. Richard HI.; a 
vast store of works 
on Divinity, and 
some rare editions of 
the Classics. Over the mantelpiece is a portrait (by Sir Francis 
Grant) of the fifth, "the good" Duke, the builder of the Castle: 
and on a window-sill is a reproduction of one of Lady Granby's 
drawings, making it most desirable that more of her work were 
displayed, since, besides her well-known genius for portraiture 
and sculpture, she so evidently had the talent (or is it knack ?) 
of drawing a pretty face. 




OLD TAPESTRY, FROM HADDON 




21 



JL 



2 2 3Be!\>oir (Tastle 

Folding doors admit to tlie small Library, amongst the pic- 
tures of which is one of Lord Robert Manners, the naval hero, 
youngest son of the famous Marquis ; a captain under Rodney, 
and commander of the Resolution in several actions, before that 
final one, off Dominica, when he was mortally wounded in 
breaking the French line. Here are to be found those manu- 
scripts and letters of which a considerable number were dis- 
covered, stored away in common boxes, in an attic over the 
stables. That was a grand find. The boxes may have come 
from Haddon, or have been hurriedly placed here at the tire. 
When lighted upon, no small share of their contents, ranging 
from 1440 to 1787, had formed material for rats" nests ; but 
sufficient remained, when weeded and sorted, to till thirty-six 
volumes. One of the most noteworthy letters, signed by War- 
wick, contains a request from the King-maker that Henry Vernon 
would bring all the men he could to assist him against Edward. 
But this the owner of Haddon failed to do, on which account 
his estates were subsequently not confiscated, and are there- 
fore at present in possession of the Duke of Rutland, as they 
probably otherwise would not have been. In a glazed case 
we observe sundry charters, one of which (between 11 89 and 
1199), translated, runs thus: 

"John, Earl of Moreton, to his Justices, SherilTs, bailiffs, minis- 
ters, and all his faithful people, sends greeting. Know you that 
1 have granted and given licence to Richard de Vernon to fortify 
his mansion of Haddon with a wall raised twelve feet high, 
without battlements ; and 1 forbid that any one should there- 
after disturb the said wall. 

" Warwick. 

" Witnessed by Robert de Mara 
at Clipeston. 

But the place to see charters (and the Todeni seal for the matter 



24 Belvoir Caetle 

of that) is the Muniment-room, where there are some thousands 
— all in a muddle, till recently arranged by Mr. Carrington. 

Crossing the Earls' Gallery, we proceed into the Grand Gal- 
lery, one hundred and thirty-one feet long, eighteen feet wide, 
but expanding to thirty-six feet in the central bay. It was fitted 
up for the Regent in 1814, and named after him. It contains 
eight hangings of Gobelin tapestry, with high-coloured and 
minutely detailed scenes of the adventures of "Dom Quichotte," 
surrounded by wide borders of armour, flowers, and fruit ; a 
series of busts by Nollekins ; portraits, by Hoppner, of the Duke 
and Duchess — the latter unfinished ; one of Lady Tyrconnel 
(Reynolds), sister to the fourth Duke, in white satin, — she was 
divorced by Act of Parliament, and married the same year, 1777, 
the son of Lord Newark ; the wife of the famous Marquis, and 
the Duchess of Somerset (both by W. Hogarth) ; the Duchess 
of Buckingham, wife of George Villiers (Vandyck) ; and some 
intensely blue old Sevres on the chimneypieces. 

This being the most imperial room of all, let us content 
ourselves with its splendour and spaciousness, and omit the 
Royal rooms, just as we omitted the Wellington suite below. 

Gaining the entrance once more, and passing out, we shall 
be but following the course of almost all visitors if we go down 
into the Duke's Garden. Just now (early May) the beds are 
ablaze with tulips, aubrietias, and polyanthuses, and the borders 
fragrant with great patches of double Neapolitan violets, screened 
from the midday sun by branches overhead. Beyond the narrow 
plateau on which is this garden the ground falls rapidly, to form 
a grassy dell that loses itself in the foliage of the opposite hill 
running down to meet it. "The Duke's Walk" skirts this dell ; 
and a little way farther on we leave the walk for a few minutes, 
to turn up and reach the Mausoleum, completely hidden in trees, 
at the top of the hill. At the altar end of the mortuary chapel 




25 



26 tSelvolr dastle 

is a marble effigy of the late Duchess, consort of the fifth Duke, 
about to ascend to the clouds to meet four expectant children 
who predeceased her. The effect is more striking through the 
figures in the apse being lit from above with a golden radiance 
from coloured glass, as contrasted with the comparative gloom 
of the rest of the chapel. Gifted in many directions, Belvoir 
owes much of its interior arrangements to the architectural ability 
of her Grace ; and besides this, she wrought her family lasting 
good in the way of planting. To her are due those spreading 
Portugal laurels and other shrubs, so lavishly distributed through- 
out the grounds, especially along the drive up from Knipton. 

The general distribution of sheltering cover makes the at- 
tachment of the birds to one particular quarter the more sur- 
prising ; but so it is. While it would be hard to find any corner 
of the demesne where some blackbirds and thrushes are not 
performing solos or duets, in the avenue leading from the dairy 
to the gardens the performances morning and evening are those 
of massed bands, knowing no interval, — a local predilection which 
appears contagious ; since the summer (1897) in which this 
article was written, several nightingales — not common visitors, 
usually — were said to have turned up in the same avenue as 
soon as the native songsters were busy with their first broods, 
and so, for the time, silent. Happily all birds are given a chance 
for existence. Even owls and hawks are not ruthlessly shot and 
trapped ; and yet, observe, the game-book shows no diminishing 
totals from such regard to the claims of the Belvoir avi-fauna. 

Regaining our path — the family walk after morning service 
on Sundays — it threads its way between forest trees, and one 
or two spreading standard yews, such as can be matched 1 
know not where, and presently reaches a natural amphitheatre, 
the Spring Garden. Cedars, oaks, ribbon-bedding, rockwork, 
camellias, robust bamboos, and hybrid rhododendrons, make a 




27 



28 



3BcIvoir Caatle 




combination of greenery and landscape gardening pleasant to 
behold, showing there is shelter from all quarters except the 
south, and that frosts are never severe. Farther on perhaps you 
quit the path and descend to Frog Hollow — a peaceful scene 
of firs, rhododendrons, and ponds, with a backing of Granby 

woods. Wild duck 
would now be nest- 
ing, if the ubiquit- 
ous foxes allowed 
them ; as it is, it is 
here, rather than in 
the lakes, that the 
few are accounted 
tor in winter. Or 
you may, if you 
choose, pursue the 
path, and go on 
winding around to the opposite side of the ridge, and so back 
to the starting-place having traversed three miles of admirably 
engineered walk, on the level, under the shelter of trees the 
whole way. For not only are the state rooms in the Castle 
shown on all week-days except Christmas Day and Good Friday, 
but the grounds and gardens (except the kitchen garden) are 
throughout open to visitors all the year round. 

About four miles from the Castle is Bottesford Church, with 
many a monument from the old Priory whose site was near 
the Belvoir Inn. The road to Bottesford runs past green tlelds 
hedged by stake and bound fences, difficult to negotiate on 
horseback, and over the Grantham Canal — some of the best 
partridge-driving ground in all the estate. 

The wide, long chancel of the church proves to be almost 
filled up with monuments, of which two at least must be alluded 



SOUTH-WEST FRONT OF CASTLE 




29 



30 Belpoir dastle 

to. One of these is a simple little figure of marble, eighteen 
inches high, in armour and mantle, with shield on left arm ; it 
has been thought to represent the founder, Todeni, but is more 
plausibly assigned to the third Albini, who died 1236. The other 
is an elaborate altar-tomb against the south wall, commemorat- 
ing Francis, the sixth Earl, his two wives, and three children. 
The long inscription records the Earl's exploits and brilliant re- 
ceptions at foreign Courts, and then proceeds: "In 1608 he 
married the Lady Cecilia Hungerfd ... by whom he had 
two sonnes, both of which dyed in their infancy by wicked 
Practise and Sorcerye." The story is to be found set out at 
length in a pamphlet printed in 16 16, relating "the wonderful 
discoverie of the witchcrafts of Margaret and Philippa Flower." 
It appears that Margaret, a servant at the Castle, on being for 
sufficient reason dismissed, harboured a grudge against her late 
employers. Her mother, Joan, was "a monstrous malicious 
woman, full of oathes and curses and imprecations irreligious." 
Not content with witching cattle (though Philippa plumed her- 
self on having witched her lover), these three worthies were 
considered to have cast an evil eye on the Earl's children, Fran- 
cis and Henry, "because they sickened very strangely and after 
awhile died." Some thought this was only to be expected, as 
the Flowers admitted having a cat called Rutterkin ! That the 
trio were in some way connected with the death of the infants 
seems beyond doubt ; for after the demise of the woman Joan, 
who conveniently choked herself, the daughters were brought to 
trial, and made such confession as justified Sir Henry Hobart in 
condemning them to death. But they were not arraigned until 
five years after the crime was committed and two years after the 
publication of the pamphlet ; which seems to show that trial for 
witchcraft was not a matter to be taken in hand lightly or unad- 
visedly, but came well within the sphere of the law's delays. 



>fvV 




MONUMENT TO THE SIXTH EARL OF RUTLAND AND HIS FAMILY 
IN BOTTESFORD CHURCH 



31 



Blenbeim anb its flBemoties 



33 




BLENHEIM PALACE 



(( 



BLENHEIM AND ITS MEMORIES 



BY THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH 



T 



HERE is perhaps no one thing, which the most Polite part of 
mankind have more tmiver sally agreed in, than the valine 
they have ever set upon the Remains of distant Times. Nor 
amongst the severall kinds of those Antiquitys are there any so 
m,uch regarded as those of Buildings ; some for their magnificence 
or curious Workmanship ; and others, as they move more lively and 
pleasing Reflections (than History without their aid can do) on 
the Persons who have Inhabited them ; on the remarkable things 
which have been transacted in them, or the extraordinary occasions 
of erecting them. As I believe it cannot be doubted, but if Travel- 
lers many ages hence shall be shewn the very House in which so 

35 



o 



6 Blenbeim anb its flDemories 



Grt'jt a Man Dwelt, as thcv will then read the Duke of Marl- 
borough in Story ; and that they shall be told, it was not only his 
favourite habitation, but was erected for him by the bounty of the 
Qjieen and with the approbation of the People, as a monument of the 
Greatest Services and Honours, that any subject had ever done his 
Country: I believe, tho' they may not find Art enough in the Builder, 
to make them admire the Beauty of the Fabrick, they will find won- 
der enough in the Story, to make 'em pleased with the sight of it. 

"7 hope I may be forgiven, if I make some faint application 
of what I say of Blenheim, to the small Remain of Ancient IVood- 
stock manor." 

With these grandiose words Sir John Vanbrugh, the architect 
of Blenheim Palace, prefaced his plea that the ancient manor- 
house of Woodstock might be saved from destruction, for the 
admiration of posterity. Unfortunately, the Duchess of Marl- 
borough at once, as we shall see, suspected him of an ulterior 
motive, and the house was levelled to the ground. But, though 
not a stone of the building remains to aid the imagination, there 
still lingers something of the medieval spirit among the oaks 
and bracken beyond the lake. Here one can at once realise what 
the royal demesne was : a part of the great forest of Wychwood 
extending far over the surrounding country, a fastness of royal 
authority secure against troublesome Constitutionalists, where, 
regardless of all law but his sovereign pleasure, the King might 
pursue the chase of the "tall red deer." Still earlier in Saxon 
times royal favour gave the town of Woodstock a certain im- 
portance. Ethelred held a witan here, and there is a pleasing 
tradition (not more improbable, possibly, than that other tra- 
dition which ascribes the foundation of the neighbouring Uni- 
versity of Oxford to him) that Alfred wrote his translation of 
Boethius in the cono^enial solitude of the forest. And then it 



J 




ROSAMOND'S WELL, WOODSTOCK 



37 



b_^ 



\ 



Blenbeim anb its fIDemorles 39 

was at Woodstock that Henry 11. met fair Rosamond ; there is 
still a well to mark her bower. Again, serious historians will 
remember that it was at a council held here that the King and 
Becket first found themselves in serious disagreement touching 
the troublesome matter of the collection of Danegeld. In 
short, the name continually recurs in history, until with changed 
times the hunting-lodge would no longer contain the Court. 
Thus Charles 1. preferred to establish himself at Oxford, when 
he abandoned London to the Parliament. One other personage 
must not be forgotten. In the High Lodge, as it is called, the 
notorious Earl of Rochester spent the last years of his life as 
Ranger of the forest ; and there the worthy Bishop Burnet assisted 
at his deathbed repentance, to his great edification, as, in all 
seriousness, he would have the world believe. Not long after- 
wards the history of the ancient manor comes abruptly to an 
end. For it was this place, with all its associations of medi- 
aeval royalty, that the nation chose as the most fitting it could 
bestow on the General whom it delighted to honour. And now, 
as one stands on the bridge over the lake, the causeway leads 
on the one hand to the triumphal monument set in the midst 
of lines of elms ranged literally in order of battle (for they were 
planted in exactly the same positions as those occupied by the 
batallions on the field of Blenheim) ; on the other to the im- 
posing pile of the Palace itself The very name of the place 
was changed, to be the more suggestive of the great victory 
near the village on the Danube ; the railway station, built the 
other day, unwittingly points the moral, with its double title 
of "Blenheim and Woodstock." 

The architecture of the house itself clearly indicates the taste 
and training of its builder. Vanbrugh shared the enthusiasm of 
the day for classical work, as understood and developed, whether 
well or ill, by the Italians of the sixteenth and seventeenth centu- 



40 



3BIenbeim ant) its fiDemories 



ries ; but with characteristic disregard of law, he thought to com- 
bine classical severity with the fancifulness natural in a northerner 
and a playwright. Thus, while the general scheme of the south 

front, for instance, is 
distinctly severe, the 
massive towers at its 
ends are surmounted 
by fantastic masses 
of open stone-work, 
most quaintly fin- 
ished off with 
arrangements of can- 
non-balls and coro- 
nets. Throughout 
he repeatedly made 
use of classical mem- 
bers with strange 
disregard to their 
structural intention. 
Silvester, the French 
artist employed to 
make designs for the 
decoration of the sa- 
loon, sniffed contemptuously at Vanbrugh's Gothic tendencies. 
''Je ne saurois approuver ce double rang de niches ; cela sent la 
fagade des eglises Gothiques." And then with savage delight 
he announced his discovery that much of the design was merely 
an unintelligent imitation of the Palazzo Farnese at Florence. 
Certainly, in spite of Vanbrugh's attempts to achieve at once 
dignity and lightness, the probable impression made by the 
building on the casual observer is, that it is ponderous without 
being stately, and irregular without being tasteful. But the final 




ANGLE TOWER 




41 



42 Blenbeim ant) its flDemories 

feeling of anyone whose fate it is to study it at leisure will 
assuredly be one of respect, even of enthusiasm, for the ability 
of Vanbrugh. It takes time to realise the boldness of the general 
design and the solidity of the masonry. In many parts there are 
about as many feet of solid stone as a modern architect would 
put inches of lath and plaster. The negative qualities of integrity 
and thoroughness are rare enough in work of the present day, 
now that the architect has delegated to the contractor the exe- 
cution of his design. The interior proportions of the rooms are 
generally admirable, and so perfectly was the work carried out 
that it is possible to look through the keyholes of ten doors, 
and see daylight at the end, over three hundred feet off. It 
is noticeable, further, that the whole was designed by a single 
man, there being no subsequent additions, as there are, for in- 
stance, at Chatsworth and Wentworth. Vanbrugh is responsible 
for good and bad qualities alike. One would imagine a priori 
that he had everything in his favour — unlimited money and a 
free hand. Far from this being the case, the stupendous work 
was accomplished under difficulties greater than any long-suffer- 
ing architect ever had to contend with. 

The beginning of the building was most auspicious, in 
lyo"), the year after Blenheim, Queen Anne, in accordance with 
an address of the Commons, granted Marlborough the royal 
estate of which Woodstock was the centre, with moneys to 
build a suitable house. The nation was anxious to show its 
gratitude to the General under whom English troops had won 
their first considerable victory on foreign soil since Agincourt ; 
the Queen was for doing all in her power for her dear Mrs. 
Freeman ; Marlborough saw in the scheme a dignified and le- 
gitimate method of perpetuating his fame ; and so Vanbrugh 
was commissioned to build a house which should be worthy 
of all three. The work was at once begun on the existing scale. 



Blenbelm anb its fIDemoriee 



43 



Difficulties sprang up when the Duchess began to lose, by her 
abuse of it, the power which she had always possessed over 
the Queen ; when, too, it was seen that the architect's estimate 
bore no sort of relation to the actual cost. Vanbrugh was often 
in the greatest straits 
for money, and wrote 
piteously to the 
Duchess and the 
Lord Treasurer Go- 
dolphin without the 
slightest effect. 
Things naturally 
grew worse when 
both the Duke and 
Duchess were dis- 
missed from all their 
posts, in 171 1 ; and 
at last, in 1721, the 
disputes culminated 
in a law-suit success- 
fully brought against 
the Duke by the 
workmen for arrears 
of pay, the defendant's contention being that the Treasury was 
liable for the whole expense. The Duchess vented her dis- 
pleasure on the unfortunate architect, whom she never credited 
with doing anything right. She carefully kept his letters, and 
made spiteful endorsements on them for the benefit of her 
counsel at the trial. 

We have already alluded to the question of the old manor- 
house, and to the Duchess's refusal to credit Vanbrugh with a 
disinterested wish for its preservation. Her idea may be seen 




SIR JOHN VANBRUGH 

FROM A PICTURE BY KNELLER 



44 Blenbeim ant) its flDemories 

from the following extract from a letter from Vanbrugh to 
Godolphin. After demanding " ;^6ooo more out of course," 
he writes : 

"I much fear the effects of so quick a sentance as has hap- 
pened to pass upon the remains of the manour ; I have, how- 
ever, taken a goode deal of it downe ; but before 'tis gone too 
far, I will desire your Lordship will give yourself the trouble 
of looking upon a picture I have made of it ; . . . and I hope 
it won't be possible, that the pains 1 take in this particular shou'd 
be thought to proceed from a desire of providing myself an agree- 
able lodging. 1 do assure your Lordship that I have acted in 
this whole business upon a more generous principle, and am 
much discouraged to find 1 can be suspected of so poor a con- 
trivance for so worthless a thing." 

This is the Duchess's comment : "All that Sir John says 
in this letter is false ; the manner house has cost near three 
thousand pound, and was orderd to be pulld down, and the 
materialls made use of for things that were necessary to be don ; 
the picture he drew to prevent this was false, my Ld. Treasurer 
went to blenheim to see the truth, all he had represented of 
it was false and it was orderd to be pulld down." One very 
piteous letter is simply endorsed — " Instead of complying with 
him I stopt the works in 1710 till the crown should decree 
money for them." 

Again, Vanbrugh innocently suggested the addition of a 
greenhouse on the west side, which was not to interfere with 
the view from the gallery, and would be the most pleasant sit- 
ting-room in the house— "for that, indeed, is what 1 take it to 
be, and not a magazine for a parcell of foolish plants." The 
Duchess did not approve: "This green-house 1 thank God I 
prevented being built ; nothing I think can be more mad than 
the proposal nor a falser description of the prospects." 




45 



46 Blenbeim ant) its flDemories 

No details of expenditure in wages or materials were too 
small to engage her attention. Vanbrugh had once to complain 
that, in consequence of the wet weather, the men refused to 
to cart stone from the quarry to the palace at the price he was 
authorised to offer. A device of his, when the Duchess wanted 
him to omit some detail, was to suggest that she ought not to 
allow herself to be outdone by Lord Carlisle, who had approved 
a similar detail in the building of Castle Howard. Again, he 
reminded the Duke that he had shown a model of the projected 
plan to the Queen and Prince ; and that, so far from making 
any exceptions, the Queen entirely approved of it, was partic- 
ularly pleased with the magnificent part, and expressed a great 
desire to have it finished soon, and that that ought to have 
great weight with the Treasury. One thing — a thing which 
nowadays is hardly noticed — Vanbrugh did which the Duchess 
was persuaded against herself to approve of. In the two piers 
of the bridge below the level of the causeway he constructed 
no less than thirty-three rooms, intended to be a cool retreat 
in the hot weather. This appealed to the eighteenth century 
as highly romantic. The Duchess wrote : "Four houses are to 
be at each corner of the bridge ; but that which makes it so 
much prettier than London Bridge is that you may sit in six 
rooms, and look out at window into the high arch, while the 
coaches are driving over your head." Some of the rooms must 
now be almost under water, for originally there was only a small 
stream running through the park. Hence Pope's epigram : 

" The minnows, as through this vast arch they pass, 
Cry, ' How like whales we look ! Thanks to Your Grace.' " 

The making of the lake as well as of the gardens was the work 
of "Capability" Brown. "They have drowned the epigram," 
said Dr. Johnson, when he saw the park in 1776. 



Blenbeim an^ its HDemories 



47 



While Sarah was perpetually involving herself in quarrels 
with her architect, the Duke was indirectly furthering the 
progress of the building by a succession of victories abroad. 
Without taking an active part, he was yet much interested in 
the house, always looking forward to the time when he should 
live there in peace 
with his wife. When 
on a campaign he 
wrote to her nearly 
every other day, and 
in almost every let- 
ter there is a personal 
touch, showing his 
ever-present love for 
her, his keen anxiety 
to keep her love, and 
to win her approval 
of anything he did. 
The following is 
characteristic, in the 
middle of a severe 
frost he wrote : 'M do 
from my soull wish 
there were not one 
unhappy creatur in the world, for I have no mallice, nor, indeed, 
any great ambition but that of being at quiet with you." On 
May 4, 1706: "1 shal make the whole campagne in this coun- 
try, and consequently not such a one as will please mee ; but, 
as I infinetly vallu your estime, for without that you can't love 
me, let me say for myself that there is some merit in doing rather 
what is good for the publick than in prefering our private satis- 
faction and interest, for my being here in a condition of doing 




SARAH JENNINGS, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH 

FROM A PICTURE BY KNELLER 



48 Blenbeim ant) its fIDemories 

nothing that shal make a noise has made me able to send ten 
thousand men to Italie/' Again, after Ramillies : "I own to 
you the pains I now take ; I do it very chearfully, believing that 
this campagne, if the blessing of God continue with us, will 
go a great waye towardes the having a happy & long peace." 
These letters are particularly interesting, as they do not bear out 
the decided view expressed by historians, that Marlborough did 
his best to prolong the war for his own advantage ; while Lord 
Poulett expressed in words the virulence of a section of his con- 
temporaries, when he insinuated that he had fought unnecessary 
battles in order to be able to sell the commissions of the killed. 
However, if we consider that the sentiments of his letters are 
genuine (and the reader will probably recognise the stamp of 
sincerity), and if we admit that consideration for his material 
interests prevented him from taking steps which he might have 
taken to bring the war to an end, we may fairly conclude that his 
sense of duty overcame his inclination. The letters are none the 
less genuine in that they betray a certain want of sympathy be- 
tween husband and wife. For, though his attachment to his wife 
was the strongest trait in his character, Marlborough was never 
so sure of her reading him aright as to leave the obvious unsaid. 
Witness the nervous words written on the evening of Malplaquet. 

On page 51, at the end of a letter itself written with the 
greatest calmness before the battle, is a facsimile of this most 
interesting postscript. The unusual shakiness of the handwriting 
tells its own story. 

His love-letters written to Sarah Jennings before his mar- 
riage are curious examples of his blunt directness of thought. 
He made no attempt to give a pretty turn to his compliments, 
but simply indulged in clumsy eulogy of her charms in default 
of adequate words to express his feelings. We may, perhaps, 
quote the following out of many, without indiscretion : 




THE BATTLE OF OUDENARD 

FROM THE BLENHEIM TAPESTRY 



49 



Blenbeim ant) its flDemories 51 

''My soLill, I goe with the heaviest hart that ever man did, 
for by all that is good I love you with all my hart and soull, 
and I am shore that as long r:> 1 live you shall have noe just 
reason to believe the contrary. If you are unkind I love soe 





^^n^srr /L^^^^Cy r^f^Cr .w^^^^^^ 



/^/ffZ^ 



FACSIMILE OF A LETTER WRITTEN ON THE DAY OF THE BATTLE OF MALPLAQUET 
BY THE DUKE TO THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH 

well I cannot live, for you are my life, my soull, my all that 1 
hold dear in this world, therfore do not make so ungratfull a 
return as not to writt ; if you have charety you will not only 
writt but you will writt kindly, for 'tis on you that depends 
the quiett of my soull. Had 1 fitteing words to expresse my 
love it would not then be in your power to refuse what 1 beg 



52 



ISIenbelm anb its flDemones 



with tears in my eyes, that you will ever love me as I will by 
heavens doe you." 

Miss Jennings answered this ill-spelt effusion as follows : 
It is amusing to notice how her indignation, proved insincere 
by the fact of her writing at all, changes in the middle to a 
naive confession of weakness. 











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JOHN, DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH 
FROM A PiCTURE BY KNELLER 



''As for seeing you I am resolved 1 never will in private 
nor in publick if I could help it, and as for the last 1 fear it 
will be some time before I can order it so as to be out of your 
way of seeing me ; but surely you must confess that you have 
been the falsest creature upon earth to me. 1 must own that 
I believe I shall suffer a great deal of trouble, but I will bear it, 
and give God thanks tho' too late I see my error." 




53 



Blenbelm anb ita fIDemoriea 55 

In this way Sarah answered the affectionate utterances of 
her lover. She adopted an imperious tone to everybody — to 
no one more so than to Queen Anne ; and it was her arrogant 
mismanagement of affairs that more than anything cost Marl- 
borough his position. For he always relied implicitly on the 
maintenance by his wife and Godolphin of their ascendency over 
the Queen. From want of appreciation of the radical changes 
made by the Revolution of 1688, he refused to sacrifice his in- 
dependence by attaching himself to a party ; and if the force 
of circumstances led him rather to identify himself with the 
Whigs, he did so without abandoning the theory, shared with 
William 111. and Anne, that government should be carried on 
by the fittest men, independently of parties. And thus there 
could be no confidence between him and the Whigs, and when 
the support of the Queen failed him he had nothing to fall back 
on. But his public career is too well known to need further 
comment here. Of his character, too, various writers have at 
last been found to form a fair judgment, without prejudice on 
either side ; so that it is now as unnecessary to point out the 
fallacies of Macaulay as to temper the panegyrics of Coxe. 
I will only say that we must think his failure to excite sym- 
pathy was largely due to the facts that he never courted 
cheap popularity ; that he had no popular vices, which in the 
cases of many men have been found to lean toward the side 
of success ; while his avarice was of all vices the most cer- 
tain to excite indignation. He does not seem to have been 
very anxious to achieve distinction in domestic politics. Still 
he had some influence in George l.'s reign, and, if he had no 
true friends, he received many letters like the following, from 
men who had lost more than influence — men who had been 
his opponents in their day, but who now cringed to him to 
exercise in their favour what he had left of that power of which 



56 Blenbeim anb Mb flDemories 

they themselves had done their best to rob him. Thus abjectly 
Stair pleaded for Bolingbroke, writing from Paris in 1716 : 

''Your Grace will see what 1 have writ to Mr. Secretary 
Stanhope upon y^ subject of Lord Bolingbroke ; you '11 see 
y^ conditions he putt, these which he thinks necessary to pre- 
serve his reputation with his friends ; but these reserves don't 
reguard your Grace, he orders mee to tell you, and he will have 
no reserve of any kind with you, and he will tell you all he 
knows, he will depend upon your protection, and be entirely 
governed by your advice. ... In my humble opinion his 
intentions are very sincere to doe y^ King and his Country all 
y^ service he can to make amends for y^ false steps he has 
made." 

The main interest of Marlborough's later life centred in Blen- 
heim. The Duchess had done the lion's share of the work of 
superintendence ; it remained for him to arrange the many works 
of art he had bought and had been given during the war. There 
still exists an account of the prices he paid for tapestries made 
in Brussels, most of which are now on the walls of the house. 
Over the south front was placed a bust of Louis XIV., a trophy 
taken from the gates of Tournay. Underneath it is this line: 

" Europae hsec vindex geneo decora alta Britanno." 

A similar idea occurs in a letter of 1707. "For myself," Marl- 
borough wrote to his wife, "1 cou'd have agreed with you in 
wishing the house had been lesser, so that it might have been 
sooner finished ; but, as it will be a monument of the Queen's 
favour, and aprobation of my services, to Posterity, I can't dis- 
aprove of the modell." That was what Blenheim Palace implied 
to him : it was to be a splendid memorial of his services for all 
time, characteristic in its cold solidity of a man who could aflbrd 
to despise the popularity of the moment. 




THE GREAT LIBRARY, BLENHEIM PALACE 



57 



Blenbeim ant) Its flDemories 59 

The Duchess of Marlborough survived her husband by 
twenty-two years, and played no small part in society as a 
great lady. Within a year of her husband's death the Duke 
of Somerset proposed marriage to her. Her dignified refusal 
has often been quoted, though generally inaccurately ; and so 1 
will quote again from the copy made by herself with her usual 
care when she wrote anything of importance : 

" I am confident that there is very few women, (if any) 
that would not bee extreamly pleased with what your Grace 
proposes to me ; but 1 am resolved never to change my con- 
dition, and, if I know anything of myself, I would not marry 
the Emperor of the world, tho' I were but thirty years old." 

Nevertheless, Somerset was true to his profession that every 
action of his life should give the strongest proofs of his devotion. 
Sarah always found him a willing agent in her numerous pur- 
chases of property and in her legal troubles. She on her side 
proved herself most generous, when, in despair of winning her 
consent, he found a wife elsewhere. This is her letter to him : 

" 1 am sure your Grace will bee troubled with a great num- 
ber of congratulations upon a match which all the world must 
think so valuable as what you have made is. You cannot forget 
what I have said to your Grace upon this subject, nor how much 
I esteemed and admired the behaviour of all my Lord Notting- 
ham's family that 1 have had the honour to know. I will not 
therefore trouble you with the repetition of my thoughts upon 
that ; but 1 beg leave to say that I beleive the Dutches of Somer- 
set and your Grace will bee as hapy as 'tis possible to be in this 
world, and to assure you that no person that ever you honoured 
with your friendship wished you both a long continuence of it 
with more sincerity than 1 do, who am, my Lord, your Grace's 
most faithfull and most obliged humble servant, 

"S. Marlborough." 



6o 



Blenbeim an& its flDemories 



To Somerset, too, as to other friends, she looked for sym- 
pathy in the ill-treatment she imagined herself to have suffered 
at the hands of the Queen. The celebrated letters from Mrs. 
Morley to Mrs. Freeman were circulated for inspection with due 

directions scribbled 
on the back for read- 
ing between the 
lines. In these the 
Queen certainly is 
seen in a most ridicu- 
lous light. As late as 
1707 she ended a let- 
ter with the words : 
" I have ever had a 
most sincere and ten- 
der kindness for my 
dear Mrs. Freeman, 
soe I will preserve it 
to my grave ; and, 
oh, beleeve me, you 
will never find in all 
y^ search of Love a 
hart like your poor, 
unfortunat, faithful Morlys." Somerset, indeed, gratified the 
Duchess by an outburst of chivalrous indignation at the sequel ; 
but it may be doubted if she found anyone else to accept her 
point of view. Her chief occupation was to attend to the com- 
pletion of Blenheim, and the working up of the lawsuits which 
it entailed. To such matters a great lady of those days had 
both the ability and will to attend. There is a series of letters 
extant from Lord Harcourt and Lord Macclesfield which give a 
curious proof of the faculty she had of attaching persons of 




JOHN, DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH 

FROM A PRINT 



Blenbeim an^ Ue flDemoriea 



6i 



importance to her interests by judiciously bestovv^ing on them 
a bucl< from the park, or by showing concern about their own 
troubles. She was fond of the society of literary men, and kept 
many of their letters, which now recall for us — 

"those Georgian days, 
Whose style still breathed a faint and fine perfume 
Of old-world courtliness and old-world bloom." 

Lord Chesterfield proposed to her — too late, she regrets — 
for the hand of her 
granddaughter, the 
beautiful Lady Diana 
Spencer. " I am 
sensible," he wrote, 
"how unworthy 
they " (himself and 
fortune) "are of her, 
and howsmall a 
chance I have of their 
being accepted, since 
I can only hope for it 
from an error in both 
your Grace's judg- 
ment and hers." 
Addison dedicated to 
her his play of Rosa- 
mond, his manuscript 
of which is still at 
Blenheim. Prior was 
always ready to 
grovel, if there was a prospect of anything to be gained. She 

' A yearly tribute of a French flag is due from the owner of Blenheim to the Sovereign. — 
Ed. p. M. M. 




SWORD OF HONOUR PRESENTED TO JOHN, DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH, 
AND QUEEN'S FLAG FOR 1894' 



62 Blenbeim anb its flOemortes 

appreciated the rising genius of Pitt, and rewarded his hatred 
of Walpole by a legacy of ^10,000. 

Here is a characteristic early letter of Steele's found among 
her papers : 

" Land-guard Fort, Mjj i^rd, 1702. 
"Madam, 

"You owe the Happinesse of not hearing my impertinence 
these last posts to my being so ill that I could not bear the sit- 
ting so long at a Table as to write. Yet have 1 been forced to 
creep up cursed Bleak Batteries at midnight, the wind being fair 
for french Privatiers, and not for any of our ships to come and 

I- 

Guard the road afore this Fort, so that I am obliged to visit my 
sentries at all hours, they are so raw and ignorant. 1 believe 
you laugh at my giving you any account of myself, and "tis 
insignificant to you my Good or 111, tho" it depends wholly on 
you : however 1 am here so utterly left to my own thoughts 
that my passion gives me double torture, and had 1 but the 
least grounds of hope of Mercy in another World I would end 
my cares by throwing myself on my sword. 

" Richard Steele."' 

The letters from Pope are more curious. Readers will re- 
member his vindictive lines on the Duchess, as Atossa : 

"Atossa, cursed with every granted prayer, 
Childless with all her children, wants an heir ; 
To heirs unknown descends the augmented store, 
Or wanders, heaven-directed, to the poor." 

Yet, as the following extracts will show, it flattered his 
vanity to be allowed to dance attendance on her in his life- 
time : 




STATUE OF QUEEN ANNE IN THE GREAT LIBRARY, BLENHEIM PALACE 



63 



Blenbelm ant) its flDemories 65 

''Saturday. 
" Madam, 

"Your letter is too Good for me to answer, but not to 

acknowledge. I confine myself to one particular of it. 1 don't 

wonder some say you are mad, you act so contrary to the rest 

of the world ; and it was the Madman's argument for his own 



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66 Blenbelm an& Its flOemories 






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/^^^jKl^ 



<^^i-<i^ ^>u^n^ ^ 







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MR. POPE TO THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH 



being sober, that the Majority prevailed, and had locked up the 
few that were so. Horace (the first of that name who was 
no fooP) has settled this matter, and writ a whole Discourse 
to show, that All folks are mad (even Poets and Kings not ex- 
cepted) ; he only begs one Favor, ' That the Greater Madmen 
should spare the lesser.' Would those whom your Grace has 
cause to complain of, and those whom we all have cause to 
complain of, but do so, not only you and 1 but the whole 
nation might be saved. 

' An allusion to Horace Walpole, whom Sarah hated. 



Blenbeim ant) its fIDemorles 67 

''Your present of a Buck is indeed a proper one for an Ind- 
ian ; one of the true Species of Indians, who seeks not for gold 
and silver, but only for Necessaries. But I must add to my 
shame I am one of that sort who at his heart loves Bawbles 
better, and throws away his gold and silver for shells and glit- 
tering stones, as you will find I have done when you see (for 
you must see) my Grotto. What then does your Grace think 
of bringing me back in your Coach about five and supping there, 
now the moonlight favours your return, by which means you 
will be tired of what you now are pleased to call good com- 
pany, and I happy for six or seven hours together ? In short 
I will put myself into your power to bring, send, or expell me 
back, as you please. I am most faithfully, 

"Madam, 
"Y"" Grace's most obliged & humble servant, 

''A. Pope. 

"The friend of Lord Marchmont is yours already, and cleared 
of all prepossessions ; so that you can make no fresh conquest 
of him, as you did of me." 

In another letter he reproaches her for her unkindness : 
" But to use me thus — to have won me with some difficulty, 
to have bow'd down all my Pride and reduced me to take that 
at your hands w^^ I never took at any other ; and as soon as 
you have done this, to slight your conquest, and cast me away 
with the common Lumber of Friends in this Town, — what a 
girl you are ! " 

Again in 1743 from Bath : "I hear you live, and I hope 
with all ys Spirit with which you make life supportable, both 
to yourself and those about you. You will neither live nor die 

like W n, who wanted the heart to pity either his Country 

or his servants, & had equally no sense of the Publick or Private 



68 Blenbeim anb its flDemoriee 

obligations. God help him (if he will) that helped nobody ! 
Much less had he learnt the trick some people have contrived, 
of making legacies in his lifetime. The Scripture has a fine ex- 
pression upon Charity : He that gives to the needy, lends to 
the Lord ; and one may say of Friendship, He that gives to the 
Worthy has a mortgage upon merit, the best of all worldly 
security." 



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^J ?^ <u^ ^M^, ^^^ ^ ^^ ^ /1<W^ >^^ 




BUST OF JOHN, DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH 



69 



3BIenbeim anb its fiDemoriee 71 

Aaj}iuiy<ry ;?^ /^ oolUv /? /tym^^ Xm^?^ 2<ni^t^. / ioirt^'^fiz^ 
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MR. POPE TO THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH 



..^^. 



72 



Blenbeim ant) its flDemorieg 



Probably the Duchess was too* clever to be deceived by 
Pope's cunning, by being addressed as " Doctress in Divinity," 
and being told of ''Your Grace's ghostly Father, Socrates." At 
any rate. Pope had his revenge, and helped to perpetuate the 
popular opinion of a woman at whose pettiness it is as easy 
to laugh as it is difficult to find a parallel to her ability. 

Changes of fashion and of taste have left their mark on 
Blenheim ; and, as the old oaks recall the joyousness of the 




BLENHEIM PALACE. SOUTH FRONT 



Middle Ages, and the elms and cedars have a certain air of 
eighteenth-century stateliness, so perhaps the orchids, with their 
exotic delicacy, may be held typical of the decadent present. 
From the house many treasures, once part of its adornment, 
are now missed ; and while books, pictures, and gems have 
disappeared, modern ideas of comfort have suggested the in- 
sertion of electric lights and telephones. To regret the treasures 
of the past is a commonplace : it would seem fitter to make the 
best of the advantages of the present. " Our past," as Mr. Lau- 
rence puts it, "is an extension of the present, or it is no true 




73 



Blenbeim ant) its flDemories 75 

past." To write history is to travel in the past, to see the face 
of it, — not merely the kings and dates and battles, which are, 
at best, pegs on which to hang true knowledge. 

And so in this excursion we have tried to look at the more 
intimate side of men and women whose public actions are the 
skeleton of history. 1 cannot help thinking that much which 
is the essence of the times is to be read in the stones of Blen- 
heim and in the letters of its builders. This must be my apol- 
ogy for lingering over certain people of importance in their day, 
and of interest perhaps in our own. 

Note. — Many of the letters which are quoted in this article have now been made public for the 
first time. 



Ibatbwick 



77 




HARDWICK HALL, SHOWING INITIALS ON PARAPETS 



HARDWICK 



BY A. H. MALAN 



SO different are first impressions that, whereas of all the 
places he had seen since his return from Dr. Wharton's, 
the poet Gray affirmed Hardwick pleased him most, 
Horace Walpole, on the contrary, declared himself pleased with 
nothing whatever about the place except one group of old oaks 
standing over a lake. Consequently it is hard to say how 
the exterior of the Hall would affect another. But when, after 
walking in a dense mist through an apparently interminable park, 
the writer suddenly, and without suspicion of its proximity, 
found himself in front of it, it seemed to him as if some gigantic 
hotel of very dignified appearance had gone astray, from Brighton 
or elsewhere, and taken up its abode where it had no business 



79 



8o IbarbwicF? 

to be. It looked such a tremendous affair looming up through 
the fog ! Not that it is out of proportion as between its parts ; 
but as if the whole thing had been placed bodily in a forcing- 
house, and while the walls and windows had expanded in all 
directions, they had more especially shot upwards. Individuality 
in the builder was more conspicuous than beauty in the building ; 
the idea presumably being that the house should outstrip all 
competitors, if not in area, at least in altitude : the letters " E. S." 
set up above the tower parapets proudly against the sky defy- 
ing the countryside to show initials as celebrated or as elevated. 
While as for the poor ruins of the older house just across the 
way, these have been dwarfed, by comparison, into dimensions 
almost ridiculous ; and yet that was, in its day, a goodly build- 
ing enough, "containing," says Bishop Kennet, "thirty lodging 
rooms, besides lower rooms for business," and being probably 
far more comfortable and homelike than ever was its pretentious 
successor, even in its palmiest days, under the regime of the great 
and famous — some would say, notorious — Countess. 

For to this personage writers in general have not been over- 
kind. The character of Bess of Hardwick is given very much 
in this style: "abundant in wealth and honour, yet unable to 
secure a single friend" ; "ambitious and overbearing" ; "proud, 
treacherous, and unfeeling " ; while one of her own sex, with 
feminine discrimination, polishes her off in these incisive terms : 
"daring, masculine, forbidding, and selfish" — a description at 
least a little strange considering that the subject of such strictures 
is all the while included in the list of eminent Englishwomen ! 
Doubtless there is some truth in this verdict of posterity. Yet 
it must be borne in mind that the Shrewsbury papers of the 
period have always been accessible, while the Cavendish papers 
have not — these latter being either non-existent, or else lying in 
some as yet undiscovered receptacle. Also that, from the fact 




Si 



82 1bar^wicll 

of his being Garter King under Gilbert Talbot as Earl Marshal, 
Camden would be likely to give a biassed view of Lady Shrews- 
bury's character, and to lean to his patron's side ; while Lodge 
also can hardly be considered free from a similar prejudice. 

Possessed, as she was, of no beauty, so far as her portraits 
indicate (though early portraits do not always err on the side 
of attractiveness), it will be allowed that this great lady must 
have been a woman of surprising fascination, for one rich man 
after another to lay his substance at her feet if only he might 
have the supreme felicity of calling her his own. And yet, 
though living in an unscrupulous age, and being by no means 
unknown at Court, it seems she was quite content to reserve 
that fascination exclusively for her several lords, since no breath 
of scandal ever ventured to assail her name. Putting aside her 
first marriage with Mr. Barlow — at best a mere preliminary canter 
in double harness, if so much — she afterwards undoubtedly proved 
a devoted wife to her next husband (Sir William Cavendish), 
studying her and his children's interests to the end of her days. 
And when, after his death, she wedded St. Loe, who was much 
her senior, the motive on her part in all probability was, that 
those growing-up sons of hers might be better looked after, the 
eldest of whom was already giving her cause for considerable 
uneasiness. St. Loe was deeply attached to "his own sweet 
Bess " ; and when George Talbot took his place, he in turn was 
at first so highly delighted with his treasure that " of all earthly 
joys that had happened to him, he thanked Providence chiefest 
for her." 

Later on, we all know, he wrote nasty letters about his lady 
to Walsingham, declaring himself ashamed to think of his choice 
of " a creature with so divelish a disposition " ; and to the Queen, 
whining that "it were no reason that his wife should rule him, 
and make him the wife and her the husband," almost as if he had 





83 



84 Ibarbwicft 

been reading Knox's First blast of the Tnunpet against the 
Monstrous Regimen for IV omen ; and also to Leicester, saying, 
*' I would not have my son [Gilbert] have so hard a construction 
of me that 1 would have him hate his wife [Mary Cavendish], 
though I do deteste her mother." But for that there was a cause ! 
Lady Shrewsbury had not been best pleased with her lord's 
philandering after a woman with a past (who was not only good- 
looking, but her junior by twenty years), albeit she was " Royne 
de Scosse et Douairiere de France " ; and the Earl residing with 
his charge chiefly at Sheffield Castle, while the Countess was 
more often at Chatsworth and Hardwick, the latter did not so 
much consider the honour arising out of his custodianship as 
recognise the amount he was out of pocket by the transaction — 
to say nothing of his neglecting, by force of circumstances, or 
worse still, by choice, his more immediate ties. Accordingly, 
upon the Queen inquiring of her how their charge fared, she at 
once unburdened her mind in somewhat jealous terms. And it is 
in the lady's favour that Elizabeth took her part in the ensuing 
quarrel, peremptorily commanding Earl George to make peace 
with his wife : after which a sort of armed neutrality was main- 
tained between the pair, until in 1590, without more ado, the Earl 
removed himself from the scene, leaving his consort once more 
a widow. 

It is just possible that she contemplated yet another matri- 
monial venture. But on the whole she seems to have thought 
better of it, and to have devoted her remaining years to land 
buying, land improving, iron mining, lead mining and building — 
in which hobbies she continued to be engaged until, in i5o8, her 
last illness overtaking her, she was compelled to cease all opera- 
tions ; having, however, the satisfaction of feeling she had built 
five mansions — Worksop, Bolsover, Oldcotes, Chatsworth, Hard- 
wick — and well feathered the nests of all her children ; and that 




TAPESTRY REPRESENTING THE PRODIGAL SON" AND SPANISH WEDDING" 
ON THE LANDING, HARDWICK HALL 



85 



86 



1bar&\»ich 



after her demise her remains would be duly embalmed, and 
interred in All Saints', Derby, in which church she had already 

thought fit to erect 
her shrine, " above 
all places where she 
had been verie 
bountifullie blessed 
with liberall pos- 
sessions."' And had 
her ladyship then 
foreseen how her 
character was des- 
tined to be criticised 
afterwards, and 




CHIMNEYPIECE IN DINING-ROOM 



how, 



a m n g 



the 



many hard things to be written of her, it would be asserted that 
"to amass wealth and aggrandise her family she had apparently 
sacrificed every prin- 
ciple of honour and 
affection," she could 
perhaps have afforded 
to regard all such as- 
persions with philo- 
sophic complacency, 
seeing that, in the 
matter of comment, 
the Archbishop of 
York was at all events 
to get a good start, when preaching her funeral sermon, illus- 
trating her numerous graces from Solomon's description of a 
virtuous woman, 

Hardwick was built more particularly with the object of 




DOLL'S TEA SERVICE; AND GRAND FALCONER'S BADGE IN OAK 




THE DRAWING ROOM, HARDWICK HALL, SHOWING ARMS OF THE 
COUNTESS OF SHREWSBURY 



87 



88 Ibarbwicl? 

receiving Queen Elizabeth. It was habitable, though not finished, 
about 1590: the old Hall was lived in for nearly another hundred 
years. The spacious chambers, wide staircases, and unusually 
large windows are at the opposite extreme from the fortress-like 
architecture of a previous era. Passing in under the colonnade of 
the west front, the entrance hall shows a transition state between 
the more ancient dining hall and the modern vestibule. Here 
is the wainscoting in dark oak, the minstrels' gallery, the long 
table and benches, and the buttery hatch — and thus far it is a 
dining hall ; but the passage at the far end, opposite the entrance, 
leading right and left to other parts of the house, must have 
rendered it too cold and draughty for the prolonged enjoyment 
of dinner, and made it more fitted for the simpler purpose of 
ingress and egress. On one of the huge frames, essaying to 
break it up into cosiness, in work handed down as that of Mary 
Stuart, the great Countess is depicted as Faith ; on another, 
which has gone to Bolton Abbey, she appeared in the much 
more befitting character of the Queen of Sheba. Against the 
east wall is a statue of the Queen of Scots by Westmacott senior, 
which was ordered for Mary's bower at Chatsworth, but which, 
when completed, was thought too good to serve as a medium for 
displaying the initials of the multitude, and accordingly was 
placed here. The shield is from a cast, moulded on a carving at 
Holyrood, the adoption of which, with the following inscription, 
was among the accusations brought against Mary by Elizabeth: 

" The armes of Mary Quene Dolphines of France, 
The noblest Lady in earth till advance ; 
Off Scotland Quene, of England also, 
Off Ireland als God hath proved so." 

On the walls hang helmets and stands of arms worn in the Civil 
War in the King's cause and re-used in the service of the Prince 



IbarbwicI? 



89 



of Orange, when the fourth Earl, afterwards known as "the long- 
armed Duke," took the field with a regiment of his retainers, etc., 
occupied the town of Nottingham, and practically placed the 
Midlands at the disposal of William ; and carefully preserved, 
also, is the chair on which the Earl sat at the preliminary con- 
ference with a few neighbours when seeking shelter in the 
"Cock and Pyot," on Whittington Moor. Ascending the north 
staircase, you arrive at the Oratory— little more than a recess on 




JUDGMENT OF SOLOMON " 



the landing — capable of holding perhaps a dozen people, but 
containing some almost perished fifteenth-century high-festival 
work. Next comes the Dining-room, with its floor of concrete 
spread upon oak boarding — a feature characteristic of the house 
and district, and an excellent precaution against fire — and the 
dated (1597), mottoed chimneypiece. To the right of this 
pargeting is a charming head of the beautiful Duchess — a work 
which, never pretending to be a Gainsborough, but content to 
be a Downman, escaped the vicissitudes which befel the more 
celebrated picture. 



90 



1barC)wick 



Thence, through the minstrels' gallery, into the Drawing- 
room, where is seen another ponderous mantelpiece, on which 
is emblazoned the assertion that, noble as is the stag by nature, 
his nobility is necessarily increased by supporting the arms of 
the Countess; the assertion being: Sangmne, cornii, corde, oculo, 
pede, cerviis, et aure, nobilis, at claro pondere iwbilior. Almost 
every one must be pleased with the panel head of Mary Stuart 
in all the bloom of her youth and beauty ; and most noteworthy 




SACRIFICE OF ISAAC ■ 



are the two large samplers executed by her hands (doubtless her 
maids did their share), representing the "Judgment of Solomon " 
and the "Sacrifice of Isaac" — in the latter of which, besides 
Abraham's young men, duly attired in Tudor fmery, may be 
observed Lady Shrewsbury herself anachronously turning aside 
her head from the impending tragedy. This is genuine old 
needlework, in excellent preservation, and happily unmanipulated 
by modern restorers ; as is also some part of certain bed-hangings 
elsewhere, with oft-recurring " M. S." in the execution of these 
and other pieces the Queen of Scots beguiled many a weary hour 



1bart)wicft 



91 



at Chatsworth and Buxton and Sheffield, as she "wroughte with 
her nydill," brooding over the papists' plots for her escape, or 
compounding tirades about Bess's intrigues and jealousies for the 
edification of Mauvissiere — and her enemies. And, being un- 
manipulated, these 
relics retain all their 
interest, which can- 
not be said for the 
ordinary run of work 
of that date ; for such 
too often proves to 
have been trans- 
ferred ; and when 
transferring begins, 
the originality large- 
ly vanishes. The 
best bits of the old 
devices are cut out, 
plumped down on a 
gorgeous brand-new 
velvet ground, rear- 
ranged and added to 
according to taste, 

and bound round with satin stitch — and here you have what is 
called so-and-so's work ; whereas all the while, of the original 
material there may be little else but the cut-out canvas ground, 
with a few dilapidated threads of tent stitch attempting here and 
there in vain to hide its nakedness. Not that transferring is 
unknown here ; for abundant evidence may be seen of it in the 
canopy of the Presence-chamber and the chairs, and in some 
hexagonal medallions, all bearing Lady Shrewsbury's initials, and 
accompanied by those curious Latin mottoes for which she pos- 




MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS 



92 ibar^wlcft 

sessed a mania : Eg. Spanish chestnut — Nequicquam sapit, quid 
sibi non sapit ; Botrychium — Omnia pecunice obediunt ; Plantago 
— Extra publicam viam ne deflectes. 

Omitting sundry rooms, furnished much like old rooms 
elsewhere, we pass out on to the grand staircase, built of 
wide, low, stone steps, eminently suited for slow and dignified 
progression, and so up to the next landing, where there is some 
old and excellent tapestry. The sixth Duke (known as "the 
King of the Peak"), who did much for Chatsworth, did a good 
deal, on a smaller scale, for Hardwick. He brought tapestry 
here in profusion from the lumber-rooms of Chatsworth, and 
with it not only replaced tattered remnants throughout the 
house, but also filled up the dreary whitewash of the vacant 
places. Ambassador to the Russian Court at the accession of 
the Emperor Nicholas, and afterwards his warm friend, "the 
Devonshire manner" became a current phrase to denote the 
"highest display of gorgeous magnificence." The tapestry in- 
cludes a Spanish wedding and a portrayal of the "prodigal son " 
in the act of kneeling before his parents, who are adorned in 
sixteenth-century fashion ; while a still earlier piece, with cos- 
tumes of the time of Henry VIII. — unfortunately for photography, 
but wisely for the retention of the colouring — is suspended in 
the worst possible light. But why specify one pictured hang- 
ing more than another, when the whole house is so brim-full of 
an unrivalled store from the looms of Paris, Brussels, Mortlake, 
etc., that connoisseurs would justly say that the glory of Hard- 
wick is its tapestry ? Those, however, who are not connoisseurs 
may rather feel that to them the glory of Hardwick is its Long 
Gallery. 

This is on the second floor, and extends the whole length 
of the building, except the space occupied by the end towers : 
one hundred and sixty-six feet long, twenty-six feet broad, but 



Ibarbwlclft 



93 



widening out near either extremity another fifteen feet into bays, 
it is surely as noble a specimen of its date as any gallery in 
existence. Carpeted throughout with rush matting^a material 
in use at the first fitting up of the house — the floor is clothed 
without being darkened, and the flood of light from the eighteen 
twenty-feet-high windows is thrown upwards till shadows seem 




PORTION OF BED-CURTAINS WORKED BY MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS 



non-existent. Here, again, the most precious tapestry (fifteenth 
century arras — some of the finest pieces in the kingdom, show- 
ing the highest efforts of the tapiser's art) is between the 
windows, almost hidden by pictures ; but on the opposite side 
is a series of no small value, which, in combined width, so 
exactly fills the wall as to its length that the gallery seems de- 
signed to take it, sufficient height being given to the pieces by 
the addition of a wide border, on which appear the shield of 
Hardwick and the Crest of Cavendish, but not the arms of Talbot. 



94 



Ibarbwlcft 



This stupendous apartment is entered at either end ; also 
near the centre by a short cut from the Library. And when— 
the white sheet-blinds happening to be all drawn — you sit in 

the toned-down, diffused light, opera-glass and Lady L s 

exhaustive catalogue in hand, surveying the likenesses of de- 
parted worthies ; and when, with noiseless movement, all un- 
observed, some person has passed in and appears in the middle 
distance, backgrounded by a portrait, it gives a creepy sensation 
highly suggestive of spirit-photography. 

Meditating thus, one cannot help marvelling at the good- 
nature of the Duke in throwing open such a place to the public. 
On an Easter Monday no less than a hundred and fifty good 
people have been known to swoop down in one batch. Preceded 
by one housemaid as shepherdess, and followed by another as 
whipper-in to stragglers, they parade the rooms : and just think 
what an appreciable amount of dust must be deposited from the 
three hundred boots of such a battalion ! The traffic, of course, 
is not often as heavy as this, though it is often infinitely heavier 
at Chatsworth ; but still few days pass without sundry parties 
presenting themselves for admission between the hours of eleven 
and four, during which the house is open. And in truth they 
have enough to repay them in the Gallery alone ! 

If they care for pictures of celebrities, here is Queen Eliza- 
beth at one end, in an outrageous costume, all snakes and lizards. 
At the other, the first Duke in all the bedeckment of Louis 
Quatorze dress; the finest gentleman of his time: — bonorum 
principum fidelis siLbditiis, inimicus et invisus tyrannis, accord- 
ing to his epitaph at Derby. In the patent of his dukedom are 
these words: "The King and Queen could do no less for one 
who deserved the best of them ; one who, in a corrupt age, 
retained the manners of the ancients, and never suffered himself 
to be moved either by the insinuations or threats of a deceitful 




95 



96 IbarDwich 

Court." His wife also (Lady Mary Butler) was distinguished 
by the blamelessness of her conduct in the dissolute Court of 
Charles II. The Duke entertained at Chatsworth Marshal Tal- 
lard (taken prisoner by the Duke of Marlborough, 1704), who. 
on departing, made that pretty speech: ''My Lord Duke, when 
1 compute the time of my captivity in England, 1 shall leave out 
the days of my enjoyment at Chatsworth." There are three 
portraits of Georgiana Spencer ; but the head of Mrs. Cosway's 
figure of Diana was pronounced by the sixth Duke to be more 
like his mother than almost any other portrait of her. There are 
also the successive heads of the family with their wands of office 
as Lord Steward or Lord Chamberlain ; Sir Thomas Cavendish 
(the friend and colleague of Sir R. Grenville), who was so suc- 
cessful against the Spaniards in his own vessel, and returned to 
London river in triumph — "his mariners and soldiers clothed in 
silk, his sails of damask and gold " ; Christian Bruce, the second 
Earl's Countess, "who had all the good qualities of Bess of 
Hardwick without her faults, and, being possessed of a mag- 
nificent and independent spirit, yet thoroughly feminine withal, 
was altogether a noble creature " ; Lady Elizabeth Percy, who, 
as to matrimony, beat the great Countess easily in point of time 
— having united herself to three husbands before she was seven- 
teen ; one of the few authentic portraits of Mary Stuart ; one 
of James 1. as a boy — probably sent to his mother in her cap- 
tivity ; and a bewildering series of various other portraits as well. 
Or, if they do not care for pictures of this description, then 
visitors can inspect an old spinet with a curious movement 
connected with its pedals ; the State chair of Lady Shrewsbury, 
in which she received — "seated in pomp, like Scotia's captive 
Queen " — a doll's silver tea-service, and a host of pretty things 
besides. 

And yet, how few comparatively, take an intelligent interest 




97 



98 Ibarbwick 

in anything ! At least, so it seemed during many odd hours 
on different days spent by the writer in one of the bays photo- 
graphing some of the early portraits. The comportment of all 
comers was simply admirable ! The men with bared heads, 
their sisters and cousins speaking with bated breath — all seemed 
overawed by their surroundings, or else as much on their best 
behaviour as if they expected some exalted personage to pop 
out upon them unawares ; but they rarely asked any question 
of their guides, who were full enough of information — on the 
whole, strange to say, correct. One group especially actually 
contrived to pass right through the Gallery without uttering a 
single word until they reached the Queen's end, when, observ- 
ing their own forms in a Venetian mirror, an individual found 
voice to exclaim in evident delight, ''Why, here we can see 
ourselves ! " just showing that the ruling vice of vanity (it was 
a man !) was not to be suppressed even by the magnificence 
of Hardwick Hall ! 

Of the oldest portraits here, there is one of George Talbot 
in which he looks far too grave to do much philandering, and 
as if the forty troopers to be maintained out of his £')o weekly 
pay engaged his thoughts a good deal more than the charms 
of the lady he was told off to guard ; a clever, striking one of 
Hobbes, that strange man — the friend of Cowley and Seldon — 
whose one favourite book was Euclid, and, who, while affecting 
the true democratic contempt for all things Royal, to the last 
kept himself a friend at Court, not at all objecting to "make 
use of those ill instruments to do himself good " ; also one of 
Sir William Cavendish — it was his elder brother, George, by the 
way, who was Gentleman Usher to Cardinal Wolsey and the 
author of his Life ; two of Bess, taken at intervals — a very ordi- 
nary-looking dame, with a slim figure — whose pearls obviously 
went to her daughter Mary, and after that vanished — perhaps 




THE QUEEN'S" END OF LONG GALLERY, WITH PORTRAIT OF QUEEN 
ELIZABETH, HARDWICK HALL 



99 



loo 1bart)wlck 

disposed of to provide the necessary sum of ;^2o,ooo for the 
escape of that lady's niece from Barnet. The Countess Mary was 
a very formidable female indeed — an aggravated edition of her 
mother. It was she who called her neighbour, Sir John Stan- 
hope, a vile caitiff, wishing him all the evils on earth, and, for 
the matter of that, under the earth as well ; and who flatly re- 
fused to be cross-questioned by the Council as to- her cognisance 
of her niece's engagement with William Seymour, demanding 
the more open proceedings of a law-court. Masterful, over- 
bearing, and masculine, she was a sort of Tudoresque "new 
woman " ; and that is perhaps the reason why her husband, 
Earl Gilbert, looks altogether such a poor creature. 

All these pictures are duly named in their frames ; but of 
course it is not always wise to trust to titles. For, even as 
one has seen in a museum a full-sized otter mislabelled in largest 
letters "The British Dormouse," and the rare spotted eagle 
dubbed ''The Common Buzzard," so replicas of the same pic- 
ture have at one place and another professed to represent totally 
different people. Hence, in spite of their being labelled "The 
Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury," two figures looked, in their 
elevated position, as if they might well be other persons ; and 
when that picture had been taken down and scrutinised, it 
seemed evident that, the man being neither George nor Gilbert 
Talbot (though the lady was clearly a Cavendish), and the 
style being generally in keeping with the Darnley type, the 
pair were in all probability Charles Stuart and Elizabeth Cav- 
endish, the parents of Arabella. 

Immediately behind the Gallery is the Presence-chamber, 
with the arms of Elizabeth surmounting the fireplace ; the story 
of Ulysses depicted on the walls in very precious Brussels ; and 
forest-work above representing the Court of Diana and a boar- 
hunt. This chamber must have looked more furnished when 




THE PRESENCE CHAMBER HARDWICK HALL 




SHOWING ARMS OF QUEEN ELIZABETH OVER THE FIREPLACE 




THE DUKE'S" END OF LONG GALLERY, WITH PORTRAIT OF FIRST DUKE IN 
CENTRE AND "BEAUTIFUL" DUCHESS ON THE LEFT, HARDWICK HALL 



lOI 



I02 Ibarbwicft 

the ostrich-plumed state bed, with its velvet and gold thread 
drapery, stood in the then screened-off alcove. At present it 
looks gaunt and dreary, as though the buildress had waited to 
welcome her Queen, and, waiting in vain, had left it unfinished. 
Here is the eglantine table, removed from the older house ; its 
motto is : 

" The redolent smell of the aeglentyne 
We stagges exault to the deveyne ; " 

and this motto was also over the drawing-room chimneypiece 
in the earlier building. A piece of furniture this as instructive 
as ancient, showing illustrations of such contemporary instru- 
ments as the cittern, guittara, lute and rebech ; its top lifts off 
conveniently for photography, but the inlaid designs are so much 
of one hue that they do not show to advantage in the camera. 
The Countess is believed to have been indebted to Elizabeth 
for the alabaster entablature bearing the Royal monogram in 
the adjoining apartment, where there is also another wonder- 
ful table mounted on chimeras — this room being the Library, 
through which you pass, as also the Green Room, on your way 
to Mary Stuart's chamber. Here are to be found the before- 
mentioned bed-hangings, and also an oak door, window and 
tympanum, brought from the old house ; the inscription on the 
tympanum is "Marie Stewart, par le grace de Dieu, Royne de 
Scosse, Douairiere de France." Crest — a lion. Motto — "In my 
Defens." It is certain that the Queen of Scots never entered 
this house. But she no doubt entered the older one ; for there 
is a picture at Welbeck of her on which is the inscription, 
"Painted during her imprisonment at Hardwick " : besides, the 
Countess removed her best furniture, etc., including those me- 
morials of the Queen which she desired to preserve. 

But of the effects of that other unfortunate being who did 
spend many years in this house there is, curiously enough, not 




THE LIBRARY, HARDWICK HALL 



103 



I04 



Ibarbwick 



a trace remaining except two portraits. One of these is in the 
Drawing-room, the well-known portrait of Arabella holding a 
doll, in Mary Stuart costume, taken when she was twenty- 
three months old, and probably the original from which a copy 

was sent to the Royal 
imp to whom she was 
at that early age more 
or less betrothed ; the 
other being a poor 
monochrome in the 
Gallery, taken when 
she was thirteen — a 
copy of a picture at 
Bolsover. This full- 
length does not give 
much indication of 
that vivacity and 
sprightliness, which, 
as her letters prove, 
she afterwards pos- 
sessed ; but it is at 
j least less unpleasing 
than the later por- 




ARABELLA STUART AS A CHILD 



trait — at Longleat — 
which, presuming that a faithful reproduction of it appears in 
Lodge's "Illustrations," and that it was a fair likeness, would 
seem to take some of the edge off Sir Walter Raleigh's ungal- 
lant remark, that of all the women he had ever seen he liked 
her the least. Arabella, as a part of her education, must have 
worked samplers and used books, written exercises, and had a 
bed of her own — but where are they ? It almost looks as if, 
piqued at the failure of her schemes, the Countess had destroyed 




105 



io6 



Ibar^wicft 



everything reminding her of her grandchild, when, in 1601, she 
inserted a codicil in her will disinheriting "her sweet jewel." 
This is a date which does certainly tax the indulgence of the 
critic, since two years later she seems to have been glad enough 
to make Arabella useful. That was when Arabella was in high 
favour at Court, and was asked at a Royal christening what 
boon she would like ; upon which, being before instructed of 
her grandmother, she replied, ''A barony, your Majesty, for 
uncle William." The request was granted, and Lady Shrews- 
bury had the gratification of seeing her favourite son made Baron 
Cavendish of Hardwick ; but the codicil was never revoked. 

As for the Countess's conduct in this matter, just as her 
sentiments to Mary Stuart underwent a change at the birth of 
Arabella, so it happened with her sentiments to Arabella at the 
accession of James. Three years before that event she sent New 
Year's presents from herself and' her "jewel" to the Queen; 
while three years earlier still we find an entry — " Geven the 
firste of January unto my La. Arbella to her new yeare's gyfte, 
xx/." This entry is in one of those household account-books 
of the home steward, every page of which was countersigned 
and attested in the bold, legible hand of Lady Shrewsbury ; 
and, it may be remarked, it is a pity the several items were 
not in her writing also, as there would doubtless have been 
many gems of spelling, to judge by the fact that, in one of her 
documents, where she means horses she writes onus. 

From Mary's room is a convenient place to mount one of 
the towers. The Countess used to lodge her servants in the 
six turrets ; the hooks to suspend the tapestry are still visible, 
and all have good fireplaces. On the roof you gain a very good 
idea of the size of the house ; and here would be a promenade 
as pleasant as it is breezy if only the leads had less high and 
frequent ridges. To the north-west is the vale of Scarsdale 



Ibarbwicft 



107 



with the hills of the Peak beyond ; in the opposite direction 
Lincoln Cathedral may be seen, they say, in very clear weather. 
But when is the atmosphere very clear ? It took no little waiting 
till the clouds rolled by be- 
fore one could photograph 
the two houses from the 
park ; and it it is rather a 
feat to see Bolsover, five 
miles off. For at intervals 
all round in the near dis- 
tance, colliery engines ap- 
pear to be in a perpetual 
state of coaling up — their 
tall chimneys, peeping up 
between the trees and pour- 
ing forth black volumes of 
smoke, looking like the 
funnels of hard-driven mail 
boats ; producing a display 
of carbon which would con- 
siderably astonish the more 
economical mind of, say, a 
Cornish mine captain. Fuel 
being here practically cost- 
less, the mines can of course 
well afford to show off their 
powers of combustion ; but 
then the landscape has to suffer to a corresponding degree. 
Those old oaks, amongst which in her youthful days Arabella 
may have "taken the air, neare the house, and well attended 
on," all have black stems and leafless tops ; and even the hazels 
and willows in the covers are sadly discoloured. Down among 




ARABELLA STUART. /ET. 13 



io8 Ibarbwicl? 

the ponds I know a bank where the bald coot grows ; but, 
barring these and a few ducks, birds seem few and far between. 
The herds of fallow and red deer manage to look presentable ; 
but as for the sheep, a white one is much rarer than a black 
one elsewhere ; in fact, a lamb has to be very young to be 
whitish, and their age may be judged less by their size than 
by the comparative duskiness of their coats. But one must not 
expect everything — even at Hardwick ; and if the trees and flocks 
do assume a hue never intended by nature, the activity of 
those engines undoubtedly means "royalties" to some land- 
owners, and is so far in keeping with the region that it would 
probably delight the eye of the ''prudent, amassing, calculating" 
Countess infinitely more than the unsullied beauty of a less 
wealth-giving scene. 



I 



i 



Cbarlecote 



109 




CHARLECOTE 



BY RICHARD DAVEY 



'HE name of Charlecote is familiar to 
every student of Shakespeare, and 
it is one of his numerous shrines 
in the neighbourhood of Stratford-upon- 
Avon. So long as this exquisite specimen 
of old English domestic architecture re- 
mains, so long must it be associated v^ith one 
of the quaintest traditions in the life of the foremost Englishman. 
It is fortunate that this noble old mansion is owned by 
a family who have inherited a tender affection for its every 
stone and tree, and who have that high sense of honour that, 
come what may, through evil and through good fortune, no harm 
shall come to the roof which has sheltered them through ages. 
There are writers who would try to deprive Charlecote of 
its chiefest charm, and who, odious iconoclasts! would wish us 



III 



112 Cbarlecote 

to believe that Shakespeare was never dragged into the presence 
of Sir Thomas Lucy, never charged with deer stealing, and never 
saved from punishment through the intercession of the Earl of 
Leicester. 1 am one of those, however, who are sufficiently 
credulous to staunchly believe the story, and here I will point 
out a fact which seems to be conclusive evidence of its veracity. 
A traditional pride in preserving the history of their race is 
evidently a leading characteristic in the Lucy family ; and the 
tradition exists among them, handed down from generation to 
generation, that Shakespeare was prosecuted by Sir Thomas 
Lucy in the year 1592 for stealing a buck out of his park at 
Charlecote. The tradition, moreover, asserts that Sir Thomas 
Lucy was induced to stay the prosecution through the interpo- 
sition of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, with whom he was on 
terms of friendship, and that, in consequence of the prosecution, 
Shakespeare in a fit of spite wrote a scurrilous ballad on Sir 
Thomas and fixed it to his park gates, which so roused the ire 
of the good knight that the youthful poet deemed it wise to 
quit Stratford and shelter himself in London. Years afterwards 
he caricatured Sir Thomas in the Merry Halves of l4^indsor as 
Justice Shallow. 

In the library at Charlecote has been preserved since the 
date of its publication, in 1619, a small volume entitled: 

A 
MOST PLEASANT AND Ex- 
cellent conceited comedy, 
of Sir John Falstaffe and the 
merry wives of Windsor. 
With the swaggering vaine of An- 
cient Pistoll, and Corporall Nym. 

Written by W. SHAKESPEARE. 
Printed for Arthur Johnson, 1619. 




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114 Cbarlecote 

This little volume, which is a first edition, has never left the 
library shelves, and is an evidence, I think, that when it became 
known to the Lucys that Shakespeare had turned Sir Thomas 
into ridicule, the family very naturally acquired the book in order 
to compare the character in the play with its well-known origi- 
nal. The part of Sir Thomas as Justice Shallow, however, is 
left out in this copy. 

There is another tradition connected with Shakespeare which 
Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Lucy, in her most interesting volume on 
Charlecote and the Lucy family, mentions with evident pride ; 
and that is that, "in after years Shakespeare was in friendly 
communications with the Lucys." May we not therefore believe 
that, when he retired to Stratford-upon-Avon, and had become 
famous and much talked of in the neighbourhood as the owner 
of New Place, as the prosperous "Mr." Shakespeare, he may 
have sauntered of an afternoon through the green lanes over 
to Charlecote, and rested himself by the hearth of his quondam 
prosecutor, who did not die till July 7, 1600? If this be the 
case (and 1 believe it an undoubted fact), the great hall of Charle- 
cote may well be described as haunted in the pleasantest manner 
by its association with the most fertile poet that has ever lived. 

To return for a moment to the famous deer-stealing tradi- 
tion, 1 cannot help thinking that some incident did really occur 
in which Shakespeare figured as having stolen or having killed 
a deer in the park, which was an offence in those days punish- 
able by death ; but this cruel law had long since fallen into dis- 
use, and it is not very likely that Sir Thomas would have 
rendered himself ridiculous among his neighbours by threatening 
to make a Star Chamber matter of the lad Shakespeare's esca- 
pade. I can readily imagine, however, that Master Shakespeare 
was brought into the august presence of Sir Thomas, the greatest 
personage in the neighbourhood, and that that gentleman made 




"5 



ii6 Cbarlecote 

him feel exceedingly uncomfortable. It may have chanced, too, 
that the Earl of Leicester was in the house at the time, for he 
lived in those days at the not very distant Kenilworth ; but 1 
think it more probable that the intercession for the release of 
the young rebel came from Jocosa or Joyce, the lady of Cbarle- 
cote, who has left the kindliest traces of her existence imagin- 
able. She must have been, from all accounts, a charming 
woman, and, her portraits assure us, also a very lovely one. 

The family still possess a miniature of Shakespeare's Sir 
Thomas ; and also a portrait of that celebrity's grandson (by Isaac 
Oliver, in oils, on copper), now in the hall — in many ways a 
remarkable picture ; a present from Lord Herbert of Cherbury. It 
is kitcat in shape and admirably painted ; the features are exceed- 
ingly regular and aquiline, the hair and beard and moustache 
golden, but the eyes have a most sinister expression. Thrown 
round the shoulders is a sort of drapery of black silk, magnifi- 
cently embroidered in gold with an elaborate Italian pattern. 
Sir Tracey was a great friend of Lord Herbert, and travelled on 
the continent with him before he settled down at Charlecote. 
In his autobiography, Lord Herbert says he acted twice as second 
to his friend, "against two cavalliers of our nation, who were 
got indeed to fight with us in the field where we attended 
them." Lord Herbert gave Sir T. Lucy the portrait of himself by 
Oliver, as a match to the knight's own portrait by the same 
artist. In the fine family picture by C. Janssen, in the Hall, 
Lord Herbert's friend again appears, but the expression is much 
pleasanter. He was evidently one who loved good clothes, for 
he is superbly dressed in black velvet and silk, and wears the 
nattiest shoes with big white rosettes that can be well imagined 
on his extremely small feet. Sitting opposite is his wife, Alice, 
Lady Lucy, a sweet-looking young woman, whose expression 
of combined gentleness and firmness delighted Washington Irving 




THE ENTRANCE GATE, CHARLECOTE ; SAID TO HAVE BEEN DESIGNED 

BY JOHN OF PADUA 



117 



ii8 (Tbarlecote 

when he visited Charlecote in the early part of the century. 
The children have a most venerable stiffness and formality of 
dress. A hawk is sitting on its perch in the foreground, and 
one of the children holds a bow, as if inheriting his father's love 
of archery and sport, so indispensable to a gentleman of quality 
in the days of good Queen Bess. But what delighted me most 
in this picture was Alice, the baby, in her old nurse's arms, with 
three cherries in her tiny plump fingers, and the fine old dog 
crouched at Sir Tracey's feet. Spencer, the eldest son, is seen 
bringing in a dish of peaches ; and Constance, the eldest daugh- 
ter, presents cherries to her mother. Margaret holds her father's 
hand and looks into his face with an odd, grave look ; whilst 
Robert and Richard are caressing a spaniel. This family picture 
is one of the most delightful 1 have ever seen, as it gives one 
such a thorough insight into the family life of bygone times. 

Before I describe the house, let me say a few words of the 
illustrious old English county family that has inhabited it for so 
many generations. 

The ancient house of Lucy, which has long flourished at 
Charlecote, in the county of Warwick, is descended from Gilbert 
de Gaunt, son of Baldwin, Earl of Flanders, whose sister William 
the Conqueror married. This Gilbert de Gaunt, assisting his 
uncle, William, Duke of Normandy, in the conquest of England, 
had, in reward for his services (besides other possessions), the 
lands of one Tour, a Dane ; and at that time held one lord- 
ship in Berkshire, two in Oxfordshire, three in Yorkshire, six in 
Cambridgeshire, two in Buckinghamshire, one in Huntingdon- 
shire, five in Northamptonshire, one in Rutland, one in Leices- 
tershire, one in Warwickshire, eleven in Nottinghamshire, and 
a hundred and thirteen in Lincolnshire, of which Folkingham 
was one, and the head of his barony, where he seated himself. 
He had by his wife Alice, daughter and heiress of Robert, son 




TOMB OF SIR THOMAS AND LADY LUCY IN CHARLECOTE CHURCH 



119 



I20 Cbarlecote 

of Hugh Mountford, three sons ; and from the eldest son 
descended the Gaunts, Earls of Lincoln, which line ended 
in daughters in the reign of King Edward 1. According to 
Dugdale's PVarwickshire, Hugh, the youngest, took to wife 
Adelina, daughter of the Earl of Leicester, and had two sons. 
Henry de Mountfort who succeeded at Beldesert, and Thurston, 
surnamed Cherlecote from the manor of Charlecote, the ancient 
possessions of the Mellents, Earls of Leicester, which, by the 
marriage aforesaid of Hugh de Mountfort with Adelina, accrued 
to Thurston, son of the said Hugh, with other large possessions 
belonging to the Mellents. His son, Walter, in the reign of 
Richard I., received by letters patent from that monarch many 
rights, immunities, and privileges connected with this manor, 
which were ratified by John in his reign. From this Walter de 
Cherlecote (who was a knight) the present Lucy family descend 
in uninterrupted line, and have dwelt at Charlecote since 1189. 
In 1786, there was, however, a slight interruption in this direct 
procession, for the Rev. John Hammond, a second cousin, took 
the name of Lucy by sign manual ; but he was of the old stock, 
and from him descend the present owners of the beautiful old 
English home so delightfully associated with the bard of Avon. 
The late Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Lucy, a lady of considerable 
literary ability, may be described as the annalist of the family, 
for, in 1862, she printed, for private circulation only, an excellent 
work on the family into which she had married. As is the case 
in almost every old English family, a vast quantity of old letters, 
documents, and parchments are still extant, (though unfortu- 
nately many have disappeared in the lapse of ages,) at Charle- 
cote, which throw a curious sidelight on the manners and 
customs of our ancestors. We have thus, amongst those quoted 
by Mrs. Lucy, evidences that Queen Elizabeth knighted the Sir 
Thomas Lucy whose name is immortalised by his legendary 




THE GARDEN FRONT, CHARLECOTE 



121 



122 Cbarlecote 

association with Shakespeare, on the occasion of her breakfast- 
ing at Charlecote on her way to her famous visit at Kenilworth. 
It would also seem that Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who 
was then living at Kenilworth in a splendour not much inferior 
to royalty, sent his badge of the bear and rug to Sir Thomas, 
requesting him to wear it. The doughty knight of Charlecote 
point blank refused to do so, and styled his lordship of Kenil- 
worth " an upstart." He was a loyal and an artistic-minded 
gentleman ; for, when he rebuilt the house, he caused the facade 
toward the garden to be designed in the shape of an E. The 
beautiful gateway lower down in the garden, one of the most 
perfect specimens of the architecture of the period in England, 
was designed by John of Padua, who visited England in the 
reign of Henry Vlll. 

Sir Thomas, if we may credit all the good things he says 
of her — and doubtless they did not Exceed the truth — was de- 
voted to his wife, the Lady Joyce Lucy, "who departed this 
mortall lyfe at Cherlecote on the lo February, 1595, being then 
of the age of threescore and three years, and was worshipfully 
brought to the church of Cherlecote aforesaid, and there buryed 
in the month of March following." 

The Lady Lucy's burial sermon was preached by Dr. Ten- 
nyson, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury ; and the fine monu- 
ment put up by her husband to her memory is of alabaster, with 
recumbent figures of the knight and his wife side by side and 
effigies of their son and daughter kneeling as in prayer. It is 
now in the new church at Charlecote, built by Mrs. Lucy on 
the site of the old one, which had fallen into ruins. Never 
was quainter epitaph devised ; it is so graceful as to be worthy 
of Shakespeare himself: 

" Here entombed lyeth the Lady Joyce Lucy, Wife of Sir 
Thomas Lucy, of Charlecote in the County of Warwick, Knight, 



Cbarlecote 



123 



daughter and heir of Thomas Acton, of Sutton in the County of 
Worcester, Esquire, who departed out of this wretched world to 
her Heavenly Kingdome, the tenth day of February in the yeare 
of our Lord God, 
1595, of her age- LX. 
and 111. All the time 
other Lyfe a true and 
faithful servant other 
good God ; never de- 
tected in any crime 
or vice ; in religion 
most sound ; in love 
to her husband most 
faithfull.andtrue. in 
friendship most con- 
stant. To what was 
in trust committed to 
her most secret ; in 
wisdom excelling ; 
in governing of her 
House and bring up 
of Youth in the feare 
of God, that did con- 
verse with her, most rare and singular ; a great maintainer of 
hospitality ; greatly esteemed of her betters ; misliked of none 
unless the envious. 

''When all is spoken that can be said, a Woman so fur- 
nished and garnished with Virtue as not to be bettered, and 
hardly to be equalled by any ; as she lived most virtuously, 
so she dyed most godly. Set down by him that best did know 
what hath been written to be true. 

"Thomas Lucy." 




THE DRAWINQ-ROOM 



124 Cbarlecote 

Another name great in our literature is connected with 
Charlecote — that of John Foxe the martyrologist. " Forsaken 
by his friends and accused of heresy for professing openly the 
reformed religion, was left naked of all human assistance ; 
when God's providence began to show itself, procuring for him 
a safe refuge in the house of the Worshipful Knight, Sir Thomas 
Lucy, of Charlecote in Warwickshire, who received him into 
his family as tutor, and he remained there til his pupils no longer 
needed instruction." John Foxe married a wife during his so- 
journ at Charlecote, and the wedding took place in the parish 
church. 

Another very interesting Lucy was Richard, Sheriff of War- 
wick in 1647, and Member for the county of Warwick in 1648 ; 
he was a staunch loyalist, and unto him Oliver Cromwell wrote 
the following letter : 

" Forasmuch as upon the dissolution of the late Parliament 
it became necessary that the peace, safety and good govern- 
ment of this Common-wealth should be provided for. And in 
order thereunto diverse persons fearing God, and of approved 
fidelity and honesty, are by myself, with the advise of my 
Council of Officers, nominated, to whom the great charge and 
trust of so weighty affairs is to be committed. And having as- 
surance of your love to and courage for God and the interest 
of His cause and of the good People of this Common-wealth, 
1, Oliver Cromwell, Captain Generall and Commander in Chief 
of all the Armies and Forces raised and to be raised within this 
Common-wealth, Doe hereby somon and require you Richard 
Lucie, Esqr. (being one of the persons nominated), personally 
to be and appear att the Councill Chamber commonly known 
or called by the name of the Councill Chamber in Whitehall 
within the Citie of West Minster, upon the fourth day of July 
next ensuing the date hereof, then and there to take upon you 



Cbarlecote 



125 



the said trust unto which you are hereby called, etc., and ap- 
pointed to serve as Member for the county of Warwick, and 
hereof you are not to fail. 

'"'' Given under my hand and seale, 

the sixth day of June, 16^). 

"O. Cromwell." 

This Richard Lucy married Elizabeth, sole daughter and 
heiress of John Urrey of Thorley in the Isle of Wight, and they 
had six children. There are portraits of Richard and his wife 
in the great hall at Charlecote : Richard Lucy is dressed in a 
rich black suit, with a 
pair of buff-coloured 
gloves. An open 
book lies on a table 
before him ; the lady 
wears the costume of 
the Commonwealth. 

Richard Lucy 
died in 1677, and 
was succeeded by 
Thomas Lucy, who 
at the time of his 
father's death was a 
captain of a troop of 
horse under Aubrey 
de Vere, Earl of Ox- 
ford. He married 
Katherine, daughter 
of Robert Wheatley, of Bracknel, county Berks. She, it seems, 
was a lady of great beauty, much addicted to play, not on the 
harp, but at cards. She gambled away ;^500 one morning be- 
fore her breakfast; and when her good husband died, in 1684, 




ENTRANCE TO GARDENS 



126 



Cbarlccote 



she made up her mind not to remain long a widow, but being 
very beautiful, captivated the Duke of Northumberland, whom 
she married. She must have been a very greedy lady, for she 
took away with her the family jewels and a great deal of plate, 
and indeed everything excepting the household goods. There 
is an exquisite portrait of this George Fitzroy, Duke of North- 
umberland, painted on vellum by William Wissing, in Mrs. 
Lucy's boudoir. 

The Duchess of Northumberland died on June 3, 17 14, and 
was buried in the Duke of Albermarle's vault in the Chapel 
of Henry Vll., St. Peter's, Westminster. The Duke only sur- 
vived her two years, and was buried by her side. She left a 
child by her first husband, Elizabeth Lucy, who was a ward 
in Chancery, and who lived with her cousin Davenport Lucy, 
who succeeded to the estates when his first cousin Captain 
Thomas Lucy died. There is a mighty quaint estimate of what 
was allowed for the maintenance, education and dress of the 
said Elizabeth Lucy still preserved at Charlecote. 

From an old account-book we obtain the following infor- 
mation as to the annual produce of the market during the life 
of George Lucy, who married Mary, the only daughter and 
sole heiress of John Bohun, of Finham, county Warwick : 

"From the year 1689 to 171 3 the produce of the market 
varied from the sum of /331 35. lod. to ^552 145. 9^., and then 
to ^258 25. Sd. This account is addressed to George Lucy from 
his most humble servant George Guy." 

George Lucy had his portrait painted by Dahl, and he has 
a splendid wig on with fine flowing curls. He had, no doubt, 
a great variety of them, for here is a bill for a bob wig in 1718 : 

"October, 17 18. 
"Colonell Lucy, for a bob wig bought of John Greenwood, 

I, 105." 



dbarlecotc 



127 



Colonel and Mrs. Lucy paid for tea /i 45. a pound for 
what was called finest Imperial tea, and 165. a pound for finest 
green tea. 

Colonel George Lucy died suddenly without leaving a will, 
so he was succeeded by his brother William Lucy, who was 
the possessor of the 
very quaint picture of 
Charlecote House in 
the seventeenth cen- 
tury which now 
hangs in the great 
hall. 

In the eighteenth 
century the Lucys 
went a good deal to 
London, to Bath and 
various other water- 
ing places, and, like 
their neighbours, lost 
a good deal of the 
quaintness of the 
bygone days, and as- 
sumed the fine man- 
ners which were the fashion in an age of powder and patches. 

When William Lucy died, in 1723, his coach in London was 
put into mourning, and cost with black for the servants ^^54 35. 
Madam Lucy's coach put into mourning cost ^^22 ; thirty-one 
yards of black cloth to put coach and harness in mourning, at 
75. 3 J. a yard, i^ii 45. 9^. ; for colouring and varnishing the 
carriage and wheels and blacking the brass, £1 55. ; for black 
nails for the inside and out, £2 \os. ; for tufts and tassels and 
glass strings and holders and check string and lace, £} ; for 




IN THE GARDENS 



128 Cbarlecote 

new stuffing the back and coach box seat, cloth and buttons, 
and putting the coach and harness and brasses in mourning, 
£4 8s. Then there is a bill for /81 165. 6d. for mourning for 
servants and dependants. Mourning for Mrs. Throckmorton 
(Lucy), £ij 95., and a ring left her by will, ^6 ; and for fifty- 
two mourning rings to friends, 52 guineas. Eight rooms in 
the house at Charlecote were hung with black, for which the 
undertaker charged /86 ; but Madam Lucy, through the steward 
Mr. Gilbert, made him take ^^"80, — after which we may be thank- 
ful that we live in the nineteenth century. 

In the eighteenth century, too, the Lucys, like the rest of 
English men and women, develop a distinct taste for letter writ- 
ing, and Mrs. Elizabeth Lucy has selected a great number of 
letters which display considerable literary ability, and make us 
regret that more of them have not been published (1 can scarcely 
say published, for Mrs. Lucy's book was intended for the strictest 
private circulation — possibly one day the correspondence of the 
Lucys will receive ampler justice, at any rate it is devoutly so 
to be hoped). Amongst others are two letters addressed to 
James, called the Pretender, by his son Charles ; one of which 
was written just after the battle of Pinkie. There is also a most 
interesting correspondence with Mrs. Hayes, a widow who lived 
at Charlecote from the time of George Lucy's coming into pos- 
session till the time of her death, when she was quite an old 
woman, in 1772. She seems to have been an extremely clever 
woman, and to have managed the household affairs to admir- 
ation. She was greatly beloved and respected by all who knew 
her, and she kept up a correspondence with Mr. Lucy which 
would till a volume : those letters which are preserved are ex- 
cellent reading. Out of the number 1 select the following, since 
it gives us a glimpse of Mrs. Delany, one of the social celebrities 
of the last century : 



1 



Cbarlecote 



129 



''A letter from Mrs. Hayes to Mr. Lucy when he was stay- 
ing for his health at Cheltenham. 

" Charlecote, Jt^^/^^ 215/, 1749. 

"You are extremely good, dear Sir, to give me the pleasure 
of hearing from you, which I always esteem a particular favour. 
1 hope the waters 
agree with you. 
The Dean of Down 
and Mrs. Delany are 
at Welsborne, and 
Mr. and Mrs. Dewes 
brought them here 
yesterday to see the 
House. They spent 
their whole time in 
walking about ; only 
the old lady (Mrs. 
Delany) gave us an 
anthem upon the 
harpsichord. She 
really plays and 
sings incomparibly ; 
but as to her other 
extraordinary quali- 
ties, I had not pene- 
tration enough to find them out, for she is a strange, disagreeable 
woman. Your keeper, James, bores me to death to ask you to 
let him kill a buck and bring it to you, as they are now in high 
order. 1 must now tell you a story that everybody is full of. 
Your good friend Mrs. Anne Brawn, who was coming somewhere 
this way to make a visit, met Mr. Stanley of Alveston's waggon 




CHARLECOTE CHURCH 



I30 Cbarlecote 

loaded with corn. She would have them turn out of the way, 
and they would not ; so they tried their strength who should 
give way, and Mrs. Anne's coach is broke all to pieces. She 
then took her coachman's whip and strapped the waggoner 
heartily, and when she got home served her coachman with 
the same sauce, and he is run away with his livery, and she 
hath sent a hue and cry after him, and hath had to order a 
new coach. Mr. Dighton insists upon my telling you that he 
would have you look out for a wife at Cheltenham, for doe all 
he can there is no hope for you at Clopton. Adieu ! accept 
all our best compliments ; and I am, dear Sir, 

''Yours most sincerely, 

"P. Hayes." 

Mr. Lucy, writing to Mrs. Hayes from Bath in 1760, says: 

" 1 am told my picture by Gainsborough is so like that people 
who are unacquainted with me know it from seeing me in the 
rooms; and 1 like it so well myself that I shall sit for another." 

And he did sit for another, which now hangs on the wall 
of the library at Charlecote, and the following is one of Gains- 
borough's receipts : 

"February 2'jth, 1760. 

" Received of George Lucy, Esquire, the sum of eight guineas 
in full, for portrait of himself. /8 85. 

"Thomas Gainsborough." 

The replica cost exactly the same price. 

There is also another painting of this gentleman in a long 
blue velvet and gold embroidered coat and waistcoat ; and there 
exists, moreover, a sad-coloured suit with silver threadwork 
which belonged to him. In 1755, Mr. W. Lucy bought the an- 
cestor of those black and white spotted Spanish sheep, which 
are still in the park among the deer. 




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132 Cbarlecote 

The husband of the lady to whom we are indebted for the 
complete history of the Lucy family was the late Mr. George 
Lucy, a distinguished lover and collector of the fine arts. Mary 
Elizabeth Lucy, his wife, and the authoress of the memorials 
of the family, was the daughter of Sir John Williams, Bart., of 
Bodlewyddan, in the parish of St. Asaph, in the county of Flint. 
She travelled a great deal with her husband on the Continent, 
and was present at the coronation of Queen Victoria. 

Mr. George Lucy purchased many fine works of art still 
preserved in the house. The prices he paid for his pictures are 
instructive at the present moment : take, for instance, the choice 
and beautiful landscape by Both, which hangs in the drawing- 
room, and which he bought in 1821 from Oliver for /400, a 
price we should consider very high for a work by this master 
in the present day. 

On the other hand, the splendid portrait of Bayard, by Se- 
bastian del Piombo, he purchased for only /17s at the sale of 
Watson Taylor in 1823 ; it is one of the noblest portraits by this 
master in existence, and should be of inestimable value now. 

Also a portrait, by Raffaelle, of the Marquis of Mantua, 
which George Lucy purchased from Mr. Buchanan in 181O for 
^1150; this portrait once belonged to Cnarles 1. 

In the library is a very fine Vandyke, which is the picture 
alluded to by Charles I. in a letter to Colonel Whateley, writ- 
ten at the time he secretly withdrew himself from Whitehall, 
in which he says: ''There are three pictures which are not 
mine. My wife's picture in blue satin, sitting in a chair, you 
must send to Mrs. Kirk." This lady was one of the Queens 
dressers. This picture of Henrietta-Maria is an exquisite work, 
but only cost Mr. Lucy £']6 \^s. Close to it hangs a very fine 
portrait of Charles I. ; and over the mantelpiece in the said library 
is a superb Zucchero of Queen Elizabeth in all her glory, wearing 



Cbarlecote 



133 



a dark dress gorgeously embroidered and strewn with pearls and 
other jewels. There are several other good pictures by Vandyke 
in the library, and a very fine collection of books, amongst them 
a Natural History splendidly bound, with the arms of Diane de 
Poitiers on the cover. A French gentleman qui s'y connait 
assured me that this was one of the best specimens of French 
binding of the sixteenth century he had ever seen. This 




CHARLECOTE FROM THE FRONT 



library throughout gives evidence of the literary taste of the 
distinguished family which has preserved it so well, and modern 
works of merit are not wanting. 

Charlecote, as we now see it, dates mainly from the last 
years of Elizabeth's reign, and is a large red-brick mansion picked 
out with white stone, in that style of architecture which is so 
eminently suited to our climate. It stands on a terrace leading 
down to gardens laid out with considerable taste in the some- 
what stiff and formal Dutch inanner which was the fashion in 
the last two centuries. 



134 Cbarlecote 

Architectually speaking, the most beautiful part of the house 
is the entrance gate, which, according to family tradition, was 
designed by John of Padua. None of the rooms in the house 
itself are of exceptional dimensions, excepting the hall, which 
has been thoroughly restored ; and although, no doubt, restora- 
tion was absolutely necessary, it has of course lost much of its 
ancient aspect in the process : Washington Irving, for instance, 
would scarcely recognise, in the white and yellow Italian mar- 
ble pavement, that broken stone — now in the passage and small 
entrance hall, and which paves the church at Charlecote — that 
so fascinated him when he visited Charlecote. The picturesque 
but uncomfortable state of affairs which he described has dis- 
appeared ; and who knows but what the hall as it is now is 
not more like what it was in the days of Shakespeare — for then 
it had only been recently built — than it was when the author 
of Tales of a Traveller visited it some seventy years ago ? 

Mr. and Mrs. George Lucy, about forty years ago, added a 
very handsome dining-room and library, and made several other 
important improvements ; but they preserved so perfectly the 
style of the old mansion that it is now quite impossible to dis- 
tinguish, externally at least, these new additions. 

The park, though not large, is one of the most lovely in 
England. Its little nooks and glades are the same as they were 
two centuries ago, and the same Avon flows at the foot of the 
quaint terraces, and winds through the green grass, and sparkles 
in the sunshine as brightly as when the house was first built. 
No more exquisitely rich woodland scenery can be imagined, 
and more than one old gnarled oak and beech dotted about the 
park were fine trees in the prime of life when that bejewelled 
and befarthingaled sovereign Elizabeth and her glittering train 
crossed the bridge and entered the gateway one memorable 
morning in 1583. 




Cbarlecote 135 

In this park undoubtedly Shakespeare often strayed and 
watched the deer crossing the river, as I myself have often 
watched them in the summer of last year (1893). May not 
the graceful sight have inspired him with the beautiful lines in 
As you like it ? Surely it was in this park that he saw 

"A poor sequestered stag 
That from the hunter's aim had ta'en a hurt 
Did come to languish ; " 

and we can still see, as he saw then, "the careless herd full 
of the pasture " step gaily into the water and swim across in 
search of fresh fields under the lowering branches of the grand 
old trees in the outer park which leads up to the porter's lodge 
and the high road to Stratford-upon-Avon, two and a half 
miles away. 



IboUanb Ibouse 



137 



MIBIiiiHf 




HOLLAND HOUSE, SOUTH SIDE 



HOLLAND HOUSE 



BY CAROLINE ROCHE 



FEWER associations are attached to the private houses of 
notable people in London than to those of any capital 
in Europe. Englishmen love country life, and from 
feudal times to the present day the sports and duties attach- 
ing to it have absorbed the wealthier classes for the greater 
part of the year. 

The great nobles from time immemorial have built their 
castles on their estates, and hence the best monuments of archi- 
tecture, apart from churches and public buildings, are to be found 
outside London. The Lords of Alnwick, Raby, Hatfield, or 
Burghley, have been content, at all events of recent years, with 
unpretentious town mansions ; and until agricultural depression 



139 



140 



IboUanD Ibouse 



dispersed art collections, it is probable that nine-tenths of the 
treasures of England were hidden from all those who had not 
the entree to the great country houses. Nor is this all. Eng- 
lishmen have no idea of society in the Continental sense. Ban- 
quets, balls, and parties, public and private, have always formed 
an accompaniment to the Parliamentary session ; but the select 
coteries which meet almost daily in Paris — in the informal gath- 
erings termed "salons," where friendships are cemented with 
that mixture of grave and gay conversation in which our mer- 
curial neighbours excel — are foreign to the English life. In its 
records as well as its surroundings, Holland House stands out 
a brilliant exception in this respect. It is unique among English 
homes, standing as it does in its own lovely gardens, surrounded 
till lately by the fields of Kensington, now in the middle of a 
densely populated district, and within a walk of the centre of 
London. It has ceased for half a century to be a country home, 
and though it has changed hands repeatedly, its treasures re- 
main intact. Its architecture is characteristic ; ^ its portraits and 
busts recall all the most interesting personages who have lived 
in it. Every room is filled with rare objects and historical relics ; 
it has neither been robbed to pay death duties, nor spoiled by 
Vandal taste. It possesses, moreover, a special interest as the 
centre round which revolved for nearly half a century all that 
was brightest and most intellectual, in an age of strength and 
great achievements — those whose influence so profoundly af- 
fected the political events of the day. 

Holland House dates from the beginning of the seventeenth 
century, and came early into the possession of the Holland 
family. Sir William Cope, who bought the manor in 1607, got 
Thorpe — the architect of the day — to build the house, which 



' The cloisters, balconies, and ornamental work, and the centre turret on the south side, are of 
stone, standing out upon a ground-work of red brick. 




141 



142 Ibollant) Ibouse 

was finished in 1620. He left it to his daughter, wife of the 
first Earl Holland, younger son of Earl Warwick. His tenure 
of the house was cut short by his execution, a few days after 
that of Charles I., March 9, 1649. But during those stormy 
years Holland House was a Royalist centre, and the memory of 
that period is preserved by contemporary portraits of Charles I. 
and Henrietta Maria. 

Of the inmates of Holland House during the century which 
succeeded 1649, until the mansion passed into the hands of the 
Fox family, comparatively little is known, but among its varied 
fortunes it was for a few months the residence of Cromwell 
and Fairfax, for some years of Addison, and early in the eight- 
eeth century of William Penn. Its social history may be said 
to have begun in 1749, when the first Lord Holland, second 
son of Lord Ilchester, and father of Charles James Fox, became 
its owner. 

From this time forth for a hundred years, Holland House 
became the nursery of those Whig principles, which after many 
years in the wilderness, achieved their final victory in the Re- 
form Bill of 183 1 under Lord Grey. The history of Holland House 
during this period is almost the history of the nation. The first 
and third Lords Holland both played a prominent part in the 
politics of the day. Between them came Charles James Fox, 
whose personal qualities miade him the idol of the age. Well 
might Lord Holland write of himself (so expressing his joy 
that he had done nothing unworthy of the friend of Fox and 
Grey) : 

" Nephew of Fox, and friend of Grey, 
Enough my meed of fame 
If those who deign'd to observe me say 
I injured neither name." 

In Elizabeth Vassall he had espoused one of the most 






143 



144 Ibollanb Ibouse 

remarkable women of the century. To Lady Holland we owe 
the society which has rendered Holland House famous : a so- 
ciety in which the eloquence of Macaulay was chastened by 
the caustic wit of Rogers, in which Sydney Smith exercised his 
playfulness on prelates and peers, as well as on the aristocratic 
footman who disdained the omnibus straw which adhered to his 
evening shoes ! in which Lord Brougham bullied, and Sheridan 
laughed, and which, by its brilliancy, finally attracted to itself 
those elements of court and fashion which prudence and policy 
had kept away. 

At the very entrance to the house one is struck by the 
cosmopolitan taste of the various owners. 

The busts in the Entrance Hall include the Duke of Cum- 
berland, by Rysbraeck, 1754 ; Charles James Fox, by Nollekens ; 
the Duke of York, by Prosperi ; John Hookham Frere, by Chan- 
trey ; Henry Richard, third Lord Holland ; Napoleon, and Henri 
Quatre. But this mixture of discord is no clue to the arrange- 
ment of the house : the visitor passes through a succession of 
rooms, each having a separate artistic interest, and forming to- 
gether a complete historical record. 

Thus in the Breakfast-room the tapestries are after designs 
by Francois Boucher, an artist of the eighteenth century. The 
representations are: "Bacchus and the Bacchantes"; "Apollo 
with the Muses " ; " Vulcan and Venus " ; and "Vulcan Present- 
ing Jupiter with the Thunderbolts." 

The China-room, with its choice collection of Sevres, Dres- 
den, Berlin, and Chelsea, amongst the latter the desert service 
which belonged to Dr. Johnson, is a museum in itself. 

The five west rooms include the "Swannery," added by 
the present owner, and which is so called from the picture by 
Goddard, empanelled over the mantelpiece, of the "Swannery" 
at Abbotsbury Castle. In this room also hangs the " Muscipula," 





•^ 




VIEW OF HOLLAND HOUSE FROM THE GARDENS 



145 



146 



IboUant) Ibousc 



by Sir Joshua Reynolds, "View of Ranelagh," and "Conquest 
of Mexico," by Hogarth. The four adjoining rooms are chiefly 
remarkable for the fine modern portraits by Watts, of Panizzi, 
Guizot, Thiers, Lady Holland, Countess Castiglione, Jerome 
Buonaparte, Luttrell, and many others, and the portrait of 
Canova the sculptor. 

The above reception-rooms, which in any other house would 
constitute a sufficient number, by no means exhaust the ex- 
ceptional resources of Holland House, for there are no less than 
twenty-three in all. 

The Journal-room is filled with the portraits of Whig states- 
men, and colleagues of the Lords Holland, from 1780 onwards. 
Here we find Sir Philip Francis, once believed to be the author of 
the Letters of "Junius," of whom the following anecdote is told. 
Sir Philip and Samuel Rogers were both staying at Holland House. 
One evening, after dinner, they were walking together discussing 
politics and literature. Sir Philip grew more communicative than 
usual, and so friendly and confidential towards Rogers, that the 
latter, much encouraged, ventured to say, "Now, Sir Philip, 
1 should like to ask you a question : may I ? " Sir Philip's 
manner and tone at once altered ; and, suddenly stopping, he 
answered in a short and abrupt way, "At your peril, sir, 
at your peril." Rogers remained silent, and, on leaving Sir 
Philip muttered to himself, "If he is Junius, it must be Junius 
Brutus." 

Amongst the portraits in this room are those of Hookham 
Frere, the man of letters ; the two poets, Samuel Rogers, by 
Hoppner, and Thomas Moore, by Shee ; Francis Horner, of 
whom Sydney Smith said, "he had the Ten Commandments 
written on his face, and that he looked so virtuous he might 
commit any crime, and no one would believe him guilty " ; 
Princess Lieven, by Watts ; Earl Grey ; the Duke of Bedford ; 




THE SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS ROOM, HOLLAND HOUSE 



147 



148 



IboUant) Ibouae 



Sir James Mackintosh ; Talleyrand, the diplomatic wit ; Eliza- 
beth, Lady Holland, by Pagan ; Lord Holland, by Fabre. 

The Library, adapted to the tastes of a generation whose 
mornings were free from the absorbing cares of golf and bi- 
cycling, is a long room, lined with bookcases, and hung with 
Cordova leather. Here Lord and Lady Holland were accustomed 
to sit, with Allen the librarian at their beck and call. Large bay 
windows redeem the room from the dignified darkness so char- 
acteristic of old libraries, and give easy access to the terrace 
overlooking the garden. Homage can here be paid to the genius 
of Addison, whose writing-table, after belonging to Sir Thomas 
Lawrence and Samuel Rogers, the poet, was bought by Lord 
Holland at the sale of Rogers' property. May 5, 1856, and so, 
after the lapse of many years, it returned to its former home. 
Macaulay, perhaps the most appreciative of Lady Holland's 
guests, recalls to us the special charm of that venerable cham- 
ber, in which all the antique gravity of a college library was 
so singularly blended with all that female grace and wit could 
devise to establish a drawing-room. He writes : 

"They will recollect, not unmoved, those shelves loaded 
with the varied learning of many lands and many ages; those 
portraits in which were preserved the features of the best and 
wisest Englishmen of two generations. They will recollect how 
many men who have guided the politics of Europe, who have moved 
great assemblies by reason and eloquence, who have put life 
into bronze and canvas, or who have left to posterity things 
so written as it shall not willingly let them die, were there 
mixed with all that was loveliest and gayest in the society of 
the most splendid of capitals. They will recollect the peculiar 
character which belonged to that circle, in which every talent 
and accomplishment, every art and science, had its place. They 
will remember above all the grace, and the kindness — f:n' more 




^■OBa^^BB 



^ 



I50 Ibollant) Ibouse 

admirable than grace — with which the princely hospitality of 
the ancient mansion was dispensed."^ 

Guests at Holland House, if specially privileged, are assigned 
as a sitting-room the Inner Library, a small room well furnished 
with books and pictures, from which is obtained a fine view of 
the Dutch garden, and a glimpse of the Surrey hills beyond. 
Here the writer or orator is inspired by portraits of the Right 
Honourable Thomas Winnington, born 1696, died 1746, one of 
the greatest wits of his day, and an intimate friend of the first 
Lord Holland ; of Sir Robert Walpole in the heyday of his 
fame ; Henry, Marquess of Lansdowne ; Lord John Russell, and 
Lord Macartney. There are also excellent portraits of Stephen, 
first Earl of llchester ; Elizabeth, Countess of llchester ; Henry, 
Earl Digby, by Sir Joshua Reynolds ; and many others. 

Adjoining is the Library Passage, which is small and narrow, 
but its walls are covered with objects of interest. Over the door 
hangs a portrait of Addison ; next comes Benjamin Franklin ; 
Lope de Vega, many of whose books are in the library ; Galileo, 
the great philosopher ; and Machiavelli, the man of whom Ma- 
caulay says, ''Out of his surname, they" (Englishmen) "have 
coined an epithet for a knave, and out of his Christian name a 
synonym for the devil." Hard by is the portrait of the great 
Whig philosopher, Locke. This portrait, being the identical one 
discarded by Christ Church, has found a resting-place here : and ? 

where could it find a more appropriate home ? Below hangs 
a case of firearms ornamented with silver and gold, presented 
to Charles James Fox by Catherine, Empress of Russia, 1785, 
together with a miniature portrait of nerself, and an autograph 
letter, with indifferent spelling, telling him that she has ordered 
a bust of him, and is having it placed between that of Demos- 
thenes and Cicero ! Here is preserved a sword of prudence 

' Macaulay's Essays: "Lord Holland." 



■; 



1 




ADDISON'S ROOM, HOLLAND HOUSE 

so CALLED BECAUSE JOSEPH ADDISON DIED IN THIS ROOM 



151 



152 Ibollanb Ibouee 

presented to Charles James Fox by a patriot, and with the 
following lines : 

" Consider well — weigh strictly right and wrong, 
Resolve not quick — but once resolved be strong." 

Here also, in an interesting medley of personages and periods, 
are to be found a letter of Voltaire to Henry Fox, first Lord 
Holland, with a sketch of the writer ; a photograph of the 
Congress of Paris, 1856, with their signatures ; a portrait of 
Madame de Sevigne ; a sketch of Gibbon by William Wallace ; 
a miniature of Robespierre endorsed on the back by C. J. Fox, 
"Un sceUrat, un Idche, et unfoiiV; Addison's last autograph and 
his will ; a miniature cast of Milton on ivory, side by side with 
miniatures of Edmund Burke and Napoleon ; a portrait of George 
Selwyn, whom George II. distinguished as "that rascal George," 
provoking the repartee from Selwyn that "rascal" was an he- 
reditary title of the Georges. On a pane of glass in one of 
the windows are cut the following lines by Hookham Frere, 
dated October, 181 1: 

" May neither fire destroy nor waste impair, 
Nor time consume thee till the twentieth heir, 
May taste respect thee, and may Fashion spare " — 

on reading which Rogers is reported to have said, "1 wonder 
• where he got the diamond." 

Tearing ourselves away from the passage, after a cursory 
glance, we enter the Yellow Drawing-room, where hangs a 
sketch of the late Lady Holland's eye by Watts, and a portrait 
in pastel of Charles James Fox as a child, with a spaniel. Ac- 
cording to the common fashion of a period in which no collection 
was complete without miniatures, Holland House is so richly 





THE LIBRARY, HOLLAND HOUSE 



153 



154 



lboUan^ Ibouee 



endowed in this respect that a special room was devoted to them. 
Here we find specimens of Samuel Cooper, Samuel Collins, 
Richard Cosway, Maria Cosway, Mrs. Mee, and Andrew Plimer. 

In Lady llches- 
ter's Sitting-room 
the chief objects 
of interest are the 
relics of Napole- 
on's friendship 
with Lady Hol- 
land: a locket con- 
taining Napoleon's 
hair, a ring, and 
his cross of the 
Legion of Honour. 
The snuff-box, 
now in the British 
Museum, which 
Napoleon sent 
% Lady Holland, 
contains a slip of 
paper with the fol- 
lowing words: 

THE WEST FRONT, FROM THE DUTCH GARDEN ^^ r > r- » r 

L Empereur Na- 
poleon a Lady Holland, Umoignage de satisfaction et d'estime." 




" Gift of the Hero, on his dying day, 
To her whose pity watch'd for ever nigh. 
Oh, could he see the proud, the happy ray 
This relic lights up in her generous eye. 
Sighing, he'd feel how easy 'tis to pay 
A friendship, all his kingdom could not buy." 

Thomas Moore. 





155 



156 



IboUanb Ibouse 



In the anteroom to the Gilt Room are some interesting 
pencil drawings, by Watts, of friends of the late Lord Holland, 
which include amongst others Prince N. Corsini, Cardinal Sac- 
coni. Count Bossi, Mr. Petre, Lord Walpole, Mr. Cotterell, Lady 
Normanby, and Lady Dover. 

The Gilt Room was originally decorated by Francis Cleyn, 
when Charles I. honoured Holland House by a visit ; but the 
decoration has since been restored by Watts, who added the 
figures and two mantelpieces. The room is wainscotted, sepa- 
rated into panels by wooden basso-relievo, and divided up into 
medallions bordered with blue and gold. Within the borders 
are painted alternately a silver fleur-de-lys on an azure shield, 
and a golden cross on a shield of red. These shields are en- 
circled by palm leaves crossing at bottom and top, where they 
pass through an earl's coronet. The ceiling is quite modern ; 
the original one, also painted by Cleyn, having collapsed during 
the minority of the third Lord Holland. 

But the Secret Chamber, opening out of this room, is inter- 
esting. In it the Lord Holland who was beheaded, and whose 
ghost, with his head under his arm, still walks these rooms, 
was confined prisoner (1649). 

Passing through a recess, we enter the Sir Joshua Room, 
which contains many of his masterpieces, including the far- 
famed picture of Lady Sarah Lennox, Charles James Fox, 
and Lady Susan Strangeways, painted at Holland House ; 
Baretti, Dr. Johnson's friend ; Miss Fox as a child ; Lord Gor- 
don Lennox ; Mary, Duchess of Richmond ; Thomas Conolly ; 
Mary, Lady Holland ; Henry, Lord Holland, of whom it is said 
that on receiving his picture he remarked to Sir Joshua that 
he thought it had been hastily executed, and asked how long 
he had been painting it. The artist, much offended, replied, 
'All my life, my lord." And last, the well-known portrait 




LADY ILCHESTER'S SITTINQ-ROOM, HOLLAND HOUSE, 
CONTAINING RELICS OF NAPOLEON 



157 



158 



IboUant) Ibouse 



of Charles James Fox, painted in 1784, when he was thirty- 
five. 

Addison's Room, so called from his having died there, was 
afterward used by Lady Holland as her dining-room. Let us 

hover a moment 
with the spirit of 
Addison round the 
table where were 
gathered a succes- 
sion of guests, re- 
markable by their 
variety, their tal- 
ents, their high 
station, or their 
distinction in 
various walks of 
life. Here oppos- 
ites met, and here 
intimacies were 
confirmed. Lord 
Grey and Princess 
Lieven, Sir James 
Mackintosh and 
Madame de Stael, 
Talleyrand and Metternich, Charles James Fox and Georgiana, 
Duchess of Devonshire, of "whose zeal for C. J. Fox in the 
Westminster election, having bought a butcher's vote with a 
kiss, the following epigram was circulated : 

" Arrayed in matchless beauty, Devon's fair ! . 
In Fox's favour takes a zealous part ; 
But, oh ! where'er the pilferer comes — beware ! 
She supplicates a vote, and steals a heart." 




ELIZABETH VASSALL, LADY HOLLAND 

BY G. FAQAN 






ELIZABETH VASSALL, LADY HOLLAND 

BY GAUFFRIER, A. D. 1795 



159 



i6o 



Ibollant) Ibouse 



Grattan and Samuel Rogers, "Junius" and Hookham Frere, 
Lord Byron and Thomas Moore, Brougham and Horner, Wal- 
pole and George Selwyn, Henry Luttrell and Canova. All these 

combined willing- 
ly to play their 
part in assemblies 
at which, whoever 
might be present, 
Elizabeth, Lady 
Holland was the 
guiding spirit and 
central figure. 
Hers was a most 
imperious nature 
and thoroughly 
unconventional. 
She would, in the 
midst of some of 
Macaulay's most 
interesting anec- 
dotes, tap on the 
table with her fan 
and say, "Now, 
Macaulay, we 
have had enough 
of this, —give us 
something else"; or to Sydney Smith, "Sydney, ring the 
bell." He answered, "Oh, yes! and shall I sweep the room?" 
To Lord Portchester her frankness even went further: "1 am 
sorry to hear you are going to publish a poem. Can't you 
suppress it ? " If her dinner table was too crowded, she in- 
stantly gave her imperious order : " Luttrell ! make room ! " 




LADY SARAH LENOX, CHARLES JAMES FOX, AND LADY SUSAN 
STRANGEWAYS 

PAINTED AT HOLLAND HOUSE BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS 



IboHanC) Ibouse 



i6r 



It certainly must be made," he answered, "for it does not 
exist." 

It is with reluctance that we leave this brilliant assemblage, 
and as we pass down the lovely old oak staircase, we can hardly 
fail to carry away i.-. 
some of the mem- 
ories in which 
Holland House is 
so rich. Many of 
us, in looking at 
the houses which 
are being built 
every day, may 
have felt that, de- 
spite old armour 
and hastily col- 
lected pictures, 
there is a certain 
void in places 
which have no 
past and no recol- 
lections. It is the 
converse to this 
which attaches so 
exceptional and 
abiding an interest to Holland House. 

Having taken leave of the house — one which can lay claim 
to having had as inmates a greater number of those distinguished 
in political and literary history than perhaps any other private 
dwelling can boast of^we must, ere we depart, walk through 
the lovely gardens, in which there is much to admire. And first 
as to the trees. The noble cedars, planted in the reign of James 




THE GREEN LANE 



1 62 ibollanb Ibouee 

I., are about seventy feet high, with a girth, at five feet, of six- 
teen feet six. One of the horse-chestnuts is a hundred feet high ; 
the beeches and elms are about seventy feet. To reach the gar- 
dens, we pass through the large bow window in the West Room, 
and descending a flight of steps, we find ourselves in the Dutch 
Garden, which is laid out in the old-fashioned style, with flower- 
beds surrounded with box edging and gravel walks. In the 
summer-time these are gay with flowers. Here we come across 
a summer-house, on either side of which is a fox cut out in box 
trees. This is Rogers's seat ; and here Lord Holland placed the 
following inscription : 

" Here Rogers sat, and here for ever dwell 
With me those pleasures that he sings so well." 

V. L. L. H. D. 1818. 

Hanging below this is the commentary by his old friend 
Luttrell, the wit : 

" How happily sheltered is he who reposes 
In this haunt of the poet, overshadowed with roses, 
While the sun is rejoicing unclouded on high, 
And summer's full majesty reigns in the sky. 
Let me in, and be seated. 1 '11 try if, thus placed, 
1 can catch but one spark of his feeling and taste, 
Can steal a sweet note from his musical strain 
Or a ray of his genius to kindle my brain. 

" Well, now I am fairly installed in the bower. 
How lovely the scene ! How propitious the hour ! 
The breeze is perfumed by the hawthorne it stirs, 
All is beauty around me — but nothing occurs, 
Not a thought, 1 protest — though I 'm here, and alone, 
Not a line can I hit on that Rogers would own, 
Though my senses are ravished, my feelings in tune, 
And Holland 's my host, and the season is June, 




i63 



164 



Ibollanb Ibouse 



The trial is ended — no garden, nor grove, 
Though poets amid them may linger or rove, 
Not a seat e'en so hallowed as this can impart 
The fancy and fire that must spring from the heart ; 
So 1 rise, since the Muses continue to frown, 
No more of a poet than when I sat down : 
While Rogers, on whom they look kindly, can strike 
Their lyre at all times, in all places, alike." 

Henry Luttrell, June, 1818. 

Opposite the summer-house is a small garden devoted to 
the dahlia, of which the third Lady Holland was the first suc- 
cessful importer, and which her husband commemorated in the 
following lines : 

" The dahlia you brought to our isle 
Your praises for ever shall speak, 
'Mid gardens as sweet as your smile. 
And in colours as bright as your cheek." 

In this garden is the bronze bust of Napoleon, by Canova, 
with a Greek inscription from the "Odyssey," translated thus 
by Macaulay : 

" For not, be sure, within the grave 
Is hid that prince, the wise, the brave ; 
But in an islet's narrow bound. 
With the great ocean roaring round, 
The captive of a foeman base 
He pines to view his native place." 

Passing through the arches and across the old orchard, we 
come to the Green Lane, formerly called Nightingale Lane, which 
is an avenue over half a mile long, carpeted with grass. It was 
here that the duel took place between Lord Camelford and Cap- 
tain Best, resulting in the death of the former, in 1804. Turning 



IboIIant) Ibouee 165 

to the left, we pass through the avenue of limes planted by the 
late Lady Holland, to the wild garden, and sub-tropical ground, 
and so back to the house, by the Louis Philippe Alley, so called 
in remembrance of the exiled King who spent many a quiet hour 
under the shelter of its trees during the visit he paid to Holland 
House in 1848. At the end of this alley is a cast of the statue 
of Charles James Fox, by Westmacott, with the following in- 
scription : 

" CHARLES JAMES FOX, 
Whom all nations unite in esteeming to have been 
the chief man of the people." 

And so we pass through the gateway designed by Inigo 
Jones, and down the avenue of stately elms, and looking back 
through the large iron gates, we bid farewell, remembering Lord 
Carlisle's words to 

" . . . . The pile to Addison so dear, 

Where Sully feasted, and where Rogers' song 
Still adds sweet music to the perfum'd air 
And gently leads each grace and muse along." 



Cawbor Castle 



167 



sfifii^siaaaBtaBa^Hii 




CAWDOR CASTLE 

FROM A DRAWING BY R. W. BILLINGS 



CAWDOR CASTLE 



BY VISCOUNT EMLYN 



CAWDOR CASTLE is situated on the edge of the valley 
of the river Nairn. From the lawn in front of the 
Castle, Ben Wyvis and the hills of Caithness can be 
seen across the Moray Firth, while to the south at the back 
of the Castle, the great woods of Cawdor extend to the edge 
of the moors which stretch away beyond the Findhorn. 

The historical interest and antiquity of the Castle must ap- 
peal to anyone to whom the traditions of the Highlands are 
dear, and a place may well be given it among the historic 
homes of Scotland. 

i6g 



170 



Cawt)or Castle 



Cawdor, with Glamis, lays claim to having been the scene 
of the murder of King Duncan, and a room is shown in the 
central tower as the spot where it took place. 

The present Castle, we know, was built in the year i4'^4; 
but there was an older castle long before that date, which, if 
tradition is right, may have been the scene of the murder. Such 
history of those times as we have, though scarcely more relia- 
ble than tradition, seems to indicate that King Duncan, having 
been beaten in a great battle on the south of the Findhorn by 
his cousin Thorfinn, the Norseman, on August 12, 1040, rested 
one night in a place called the Smith's Bothie, where he was 
treacherously killed by Macbeth, who thereupon went over to 
Thorfmn, with whom he subsequently divided the territory they 
had acquired, and became King of the Scots with a palace at 
Scone. 

What is the true version of this murder, which has been 
made so famous by Shakespeare, will never be known. Such 
a labyrinth of fiction and fable surrounds all the history of those 
ancient times that it is now impossible to discover how or 
when the family of Calder first settled in Nairnshire ; but neither 
tradition nor the most ancient records point to their property 
having been held by any other family, and at the end of the 
thirteenth century a Thane of Cawdor is first mentioned in an 
authentic document 

This is Donald, who was one "of the good and faithful 
men of the county, who at Nairn, on Wednesday the Feast of 
St. Lawrence, 1295, gave their oaths to the valuation of Kil- 
ravock and Ester Gedeys," the property of Hugh Rose of 
Kilravock. 

Donald was succeeded by his son William, who received 
from Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, a charter dated August 
8, 1310, in confirmation of his hereditary thanedom. Both of 



i 



Caw&or Ca0tle 171 

these documents are still kept in the charter-room at Cawdor, 
with many others of almost equal interest. 

The old writers have expended great ingenuity in devising 
ways of varying the spelling of the family name of Cawdor, 
and in the old writs it appears in every possible form, except 
that in which we now spell it : in the earliest documents it is 
Kaledor, then we have Caldor, Caudor, and Calder, and by a 



if , - ■ '! 






^.-■■r. 




■■.■^'/\ 



FACSIMILE OF CHARTER GRANTED BY KING ALEXANDER II., A.D. 1236 

FROM THE " BOOK OF CAWDOR " 

stroke of genius it is sometimes twisted into Caddell ; but, 
however it is spelt, the derivation seems pretty clear : Cal— 
sound, and der = water — an appropriate name, as two burns 
running from the hills through narrow rocky ravines in the 
woods join their waters just above the Castle before they flow 
together into the Nairn. 

According to old Lachlan Shaw, the historian, the Thanes 
'' as constables of the King's house resided in the Castle of 



172 Cawbor Castle 

Nairn, and had a country seat at what is now called Old Caw- 
dor, half a mile north from the present seat, a house on a small 
moat with a dry ditch and a drawbridge," the ruins of which 
were still visible when he wrote in 1720. 

William the sixth Thane in his youth was about the Court 
of James II., as the King calls him, in a charter which is pre- 
served, his own beloved squire (dilectus familiaris scutifer 
noster) ; in later life he was appointed Crown Chamberlain 
beyond Spey, and seems to have been a good scholar and man 
of business. In 1454, he received letters from the King allow- 
ing him to build his Castle of Cawdor, and to fortify it "with 
walls, moats, and iron portcullis, and to furnish it with turrets 
and other defensive armaments and apparatus, to appoint con- 
stables, janitors, and jailors to the Castle, provided always that 
the King shall have free ingress and egress to and from the 
Castle." 

Thane William, having obtained leave to build his Castle, 
was much perplexed as to the choice of a site, till he was 
warned in a dream to put all the treasure he had collected for 
the purpose in a coffer, to bind it on an ass, and build his 
castle wherever the ass should stop. 

This, says, tradition, he did ; and the ass, passing by two 
hawthorn trees, stopped at the third on the edge of the burn, 
and there lay down with his burden, and around this tree the 
Thane built his Castle. 

To this day there is in the lowest vault of the tower the 
trunk of a hawthorn tree, firm and sound, though much chipped 
by collectors of relics, growing out of the rock and reaching to 
the top of the vault, and below it lies the old treasure chest, 
silent witnesses to the truth of the story ; the other two trees 
have now disappeared — the last one as lately as the year 
1836. 



I 




THE DUNGEON, CAWDOR CASTLE, SHOWING HAWTHORN TREE 
AND TREASURE CHEST 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY VALENTINE, DUNDEE 




173 





■• 



174 CawDor Castle 

The Castle which Thane William built stands to this day 
unaltered, though at subsequent dates various additions have 
been built around it. 

The basement, as would appear from the thickness of its 
walls and the character of its masonry, must have been built 
at some period anterior to its superstructure. 

The Castle consisted of a square keep forty-five feet in 
length by thirty-four feet in width ; it was surrounded by a 
plain wall where now the other parts of the Castle stand ; on 
the south side the burn formed a natural defence, and on the 
other three sides a dry moat made it impossible to gain en- 
trance except by crossing the drawbridge. 

This old drawbridge is now perhaps the most perfect 
specimen of such old entrances in existence, and is still the 
only means of getting into the Castle ; and a stranger within 
the last few years has been heard on a dark night expostulat- 
ing somewhat forcibly with the driver of his fly for bringing 
him to a bridge instead of to the door of the hospitable man- 
sion in which he had hoped to pass the night. In the old 
days when the drawbridge was up and the portcullis closed, 
the keep must have been well-nigh impregnable. 

The drawbridge leads into the central courtyard, out of 
which two other courts open at slightly lower levels ; in the 
northern one of these the front door now stands, and formerly 
the old keep used to open directly into it ; and, in case any 
unwelcome visitors should have the temerity to force their way 
thus far into the Castle, there was arranged on the battlements 
on the top of the tower a projection directly over the door 
from which molten lead, stones, and any other missiles which 
might come handy, could be thrown down on the heads of 
the intruders, and make their welcome a warm one. The 
ground floor of the tower is occupied by the dungeon, which 



Cawt)or Castle 



175 



is not used now, but kept just as it was when it was first 
built round the old tree. It has a vaulted roof, and the light 
is admitted through two little narrow slits of windows facing 
the drawbridge cut in the wall, which is seven feet thick. 

An interesting story is told about the old iron door of the 
dungeon. Archibald Douglas, Earl of Moray, had in 1454 for- 
feited his estates for 
fortifying his two cas- 
tles, Lochindorb and 
Darnaway, against 
King James 11. The 
King himself repaired 
Darnaway and used it ^ 
as a hunting lodge, 
throwing large tracts 
of country out of cul- 
tivation that he might 
better enjoy the sport 
afforded by the valley 
of the Findhorn ; but, 
considering that from 
its strength and situ- 
ation Lochindorb was 
dangerous, he re- 
solved to have it de- 
stroyed, and gave the 
Thane of Cawdor a 
commission for carrying out the work, agreeing to pay him 
for doing so the not very munificent sum of ^24. 

Lochindorb, which Edward III. made famous by his expe- 
dition to relieve the Countess of Athol in 1336, was an old 
Roman keep on an island in a moorland loch on the far side 




THE DRAWBRIDGE 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY VALENTINE, DUNDEE 



176 Cawt)or Castle 

of the Findhorn ; but despite the distance and the rough ground 
to be traversed, one of the Calders, a Highland Samson, car- 
ried the iron door across from Lochindorb to Cawdor on his 
back as a proof that the Castle had been destroyed. 

A worn and narrow corkscrew staircase leads from the 
dungeon to the three storeys above, each of which originally 
consisted of one main apartment with small recesses cut out 
of the thickness of the wall to serve as sleeping-places for at- 
tendants ; the middle room of these three is shown as King 
Duncan's room, and the whitewashed walls have been adorned 
with charcoal sketches of scenes and characters from the Tragedy 
of Macbeth, done by various visitors to the Castle. There was 
a fire in the room some years ago, and the old bedstead was 
burnt, and all that remains of the original woodwork is an old 
charred door in one of the recesses in the wall, which is 
strangely burnt to the shape of a man's head and shoulders. 

The staircase leads out finally to the top of the tower, from 
which a very fine view may be seen over the Moray Firth and 
the surrounding country. 

At old Cawdor, we learn from the records, there had been 
a chapel called St. Mary's, and Thane William included a new 
one when he built his Castle. This chapel probably stood in 
the south court, but was removed when alterations were made, 
the only relic of it which remains being an old bell of hammered 
iron clasped with nails. 

Thane William, the builder of the Castle, died in 1468, and 
was succeeded by his son, who bore the same name, and who 
married Marion Sutherland of Dunbeat, whose father had made 
her his residuary legatee, his quaint will running : 

"I give and assign to my douchter Marion all the lave of 
my lands that I have undisponyt upon, and sa mony Ky auld 
and young as I have with Aytho Fourchason or with Mackay 




KINQ DUNCAN'S ROOM, CAWDOR CASTLE 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY VALENTJNE, DUNDEE 



177 



178 



Caw&or Castle 




ANCIENT HANDBELL, FORMERLY IN THE CHAPEL 



Beneuth and so mony Ky as she aught to have of William 
Polsyni's Ky." 

This Thane William seems to have been very anxious to 
bring to an end the feud with the Roses of Kilravock, who 

were too near neighbours of the Calders 
to be good friends ; and some very old 
odd "bonds of amity" ''betwix honor- 
abill men of Wylyame Thane of Caldor 
and his party on the ta part, 
and Huchone the Ross baron e 
of Kilrawok with Huchone the 
Ross his sone and appeirande 
ayr on the tother part," are still 
preserved in the charter room. 
These treaties, however, 
were of but little avail, and the 
feud went on till the Thane brought it to an end by arranging 
a marriage "betwix his sone and ayr and Huchone the Ross 
his douchter." By this agreement he waste have the choice 
of all the daughters of Kilravock for his son, who does not 
seem to have been consulted or to have minded having his 
wife found for him by his father. 

Two daughters were all the family born to John Calder 
and Isabella Ross, and one of these died in infancy, leaving 
Muriel sole heiress, and, when her father died in 1498, the last 
of the direct line of the Calders. 

Naturally, it was not long before this matrimonial prize at- 
tracted attention ; and Archibald, second Earl of Argyll, married 
her when she was only twelve years old, to his third son, 
afterwards known as Sir John Campbell of Cawdor. 

In her infancy, Muriel lived with her grandfather at Kil- 
ravock, who probably was in hopes of marrying her to some near 




CHIMNEYPIECE IN THE DINING-ROOM, CAWDOR CASTLE 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY VALENTINE, DUNDEE 




179 




lao (^aw^or Castle 

relation ; but Argyll was too strong for him, and he sent Camp- 
bell of Inverliver one harvest to carry her away to Inverary. Mu- 
riel's uncles, the Calders, heard of this, and, determined to get 
back their heiress, set out in pursuit, and before they had gone 
far came up with the Campbells. Inverliver, seeing he was 
outnumbered, sent Muriel on with a small escort, while he faced 
round to stop the Calders. The fight was sharp, and eight of 
Inverliver's sons were killed ; but finally, when they thought 
the child had got out of the reach of her uncles, the Campbells 
retired, leaving in the hands of the Calders what, during the 
fight, they had fondly believed to be Muriel, but which they 
found to be only a sheaf of corn dressed in some of her clothes. 

It is said that in the skirmish Inverliver cried out in Gaelic, 
'' 'S fhada glaodh o Lochow" ('"Tis a far cry to Lochawe ! ") 
which has since become a proverb. 

The marriage of John Campbell and Muriel Calder is com- 
memorated by the stone mantelpiece in the room which is now 
used as the dining-room. This mantelpiece, which is one of 
the features of Cawdor, bears the arms of the Campbells and 
Calders quarterly, with their motto, "Be mindful." Below is 
the inscription, "Ceri mani memoneris Mane," which puzzles 
Latin scholars to translate, and the date, 1516. 

On each side of the arms the mantelpiece is ornamented with 
the most grotesque, carved figures: a mermaid plays on the harp 
— the small ancient Scottish harp, very similar to ancient Irish 
examples, — a monkey on the flute, a cat on the fiddle, a bird with 
an enormous beak sits upon a leaf, while a sportsman with horse 
and hound pursues the timid hare ; and a fox, undismayed by 
these strange sights and sounds, contentedly smokes a pipe, to 
the lasting confusion of archccologists who remember that tobacco 
was only introduced into the country some thirty years after the 
mantelpiece was executed ! 




THE DINING-ROOM, CAWDOR CASTLE 

FROM A PHOTOGFIAPH BY VALENTINE, DUNDEE 



l8l 



1 82 Cawt)or Castle 

The Dining-room, and the Sitting-room beyond it, are hung 
with tapestry. The larger pieces depict scenes from " Don Quix- 
ote," while the smaller ones were worked by the Lady Henrietta 
Stuart, a daughter of James, third Earl of Moray, who married Sir 
Hugh Campbell in 1662, and of whom we shall hear more. It is 
said that when she had finished her work she determined that her 
needle should never be used again ; so she took it into the wood 
and threw it into the Achniem burn, and it fell on its end and 
stones collected round it forming the strange needle-shaped pin- 
nacle of conglomerate rock which still stands in the burn some 
little way above the Castle, and is called Lady Henrietta's Needle. 

Above the Needle the burn flows through a gorge so narrow, 
and with such deep pools, that no one has yet been able to make 
his way up it, though the attempt has been made more than once. 
The burn has gradually cut down through the conglomerate rock, 
and it is interesting to notice the places where, at the corners, the 
waters have in former years cut out circular hollows in the rock 
by their eddies, though the burn now flows many feet below 
them. Two bridges cross the Achniem burn over a hundred 
feet above the water ; and from them, and from a promontory 
called the Hermitage, which juts out into the middle of the ra- 
vine, very fine views can be seen up and down the glen. 

The Achendoun burn is also very beautiful, though the glen 
is not so narrow nor so wild, and the two join at the Lady's Pool, 
just above the Castle. 

Between the burns stretch the Cawdor woods, which, Toeing 
crossed in every direction by narrow footpaths, provide delightful 
walks on summer evenings, and endless opportunities for the 
stranger to lose his way. These woods are a feature of the place, 
and it would be difficult to find in Scotland more beautiful or 
varied woodland scenery than they afford. Oak and beech and 
holly grow near the Castle ; and then as you plunge farther into 




t. 



LADY HENRIETTA'S NEEDLE" IN ACHNIEM BURN, CAWDOR WOODS 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY VALENTINE, DUNDEE 



183 



1 84 Cawbor Castle 

the woods the scene changes, and you wander on among the 
graceful birch trees, where if your eyes are sharp you may catch 
a glimpse of a roe bounding off among the bracken, or of a wood- 
cock gliding along with noiseless wings between the juniper 
bushes ; then again, as you draw nearer the hills you pass 
through dark and silent fir woods, till you emerge on the edge of 
the moors, where, on a summer evening, the old cock grouse 
loves to sit on a hillock and chuckle and crow as he tells his ad- 
miring friends of the wiles by which he has succeeded once 
more in eluding the setter or avoiding the deadly line of butts. 

The moors stretch for some five miles without a break, and 
then we reach the Findhorn, the narrow valley of which shelters 
several farms, which in winter are sometimes cut off from the 
outer world by snow for six weeks at a time ; here also, on the 
very bank of the river, stands Drynachan, which, from little more 
than a cottage, has gradually grown into a comfortable shooting 
lodge much beloved of sportsmen, whether they be in pursuit of 
grouse or trout or salmon. 

At this point the river has a shingly bed ; but some four miles 
lower down, at Banchor, its character suddenly alters, and it 
dashes down among rocks under the narrow footbridge into the 
dark depths of the Grave Pool, foams through the White Stream 
on through Douglas till the lovely rocky glen fringed with birch 
trees is passed, and, flowing through the narrow throat, it spreads 
itself out once more, resting, as it were, in the calm and placid 
Cow Pool before it begins its rough-and-tumble fight again with 
the rocks of Glenfurness and Darnaway. 

But we must not linger by the Findhorn, though it is the 
most beautiful of Highland streams, but turn back to Cawdor 
once again. 

Shortly after his marriage, Sir John received a Crown charter 
uniting all the possessions of Cawdor into one thanage in his 



Cawbor Castle 



185 



favour, and thus did the line of succession pass from the Calders 
to the Campbells. 

The new thane, having received bonds of "friendship and 
manrent" from his neighbours in the north, occupied himself 
with his estates in the 
west, and lived in Ar- 
gyllshire ; and it is 
only fourteen years 
after his marriage that 
we find him taking 
up his residence per- 
manently at Cawdor. 
He came north some- 
what under a cloud. 
His sister, the Lady 
Elizabeth, had mar- 
ried McLean of Duart, 
who in a freak of 
temper took her out 
to sea, and left her i^ 
to perish on a rock 
which was covered at 
high tide, and from 
which she was saved 
by a mere chance by 
a passing boat. This 
rock is still called the Lady's Rock. At this act Sir John was 
naturally furious, and as it was useless to trust to the law in 
those days to redress just grievances, he laid waste the lands of 
Colonsay, which belonged to his undesirable brother-in-law, and 
then, following him to Edinburgh, "slew him in his bed under 
silence of nicht." For taking the law into his hands in this 




AT THE HERMITAGE 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY VALENTINE, DUNDEE 



1 86 



Cawdor Castle 



manner he was pardoned by the King (James V.), but found 
it better to make his visits to Argyllshire less frequent, and so 
Cawdor became his home. 

In those days life and property in the Highlands were far 
from secure; and Andrew Calder, Muriel's uncle, who had op- 
posed her succession, robbed and murdered his neighbours, 
while she was away in the west, to such an extent that he be- 
came a terror to the country; but though, according to a name- 
less chronicler, "they sent for the swiftest persons they could 
find from other quarters, they could not catch him, as he was so 
swift that he could run two miles for their one," so he was out- 
lawed, and a reward offered for him alive or dead. "In the 
course of his rounds," we are told, "he came down the hill by 
the Castle of Rait, and concealed himself behind a large stone; 
but a man saw him, and having a loaded gun, shot him in the 
forehead": hence the stone is called Calder's Stone to this day. 

Sir John added considerably to his possessions both in Nairn- 
shire and Argyllshire, and died in 1456. The Lady Muriel, how- 
ever, survived him and their son, and lived long enough to see 
her grandson Thane of Cawdor. One of the earliest letters 
which is preserved in the Charter-room shows that this thane 
did not get on very well with his wife, as his law agent at 
Edinburgh writes: "Your ladie findes great fault that ye ar 
nocht so cairful off your dewitie towart hir as ye aucht to be, 
lykas, I understand, she has vretin to you. Ye haw newir 
vretin ane letter this sax oikkes to hir." Some of the signatures 
of these letters are very odd, the oddest perhaps being that 
used by John Bishop of the Isles, who signs "J. B. of Thylis" ; 
very few gentlemen of the day seem to have known how to 
write, but though they had to put their signatures to docu- 
ments by the aid of the notary, they were not reduced to Bill 
Sykes's method of merely putting their "mark." Thus the 



Cawt)or Castle 



187 



chief of the MacGregors signs his bond of manrent : ''E wine 
Makgrigour with my hand at the pen led by Jhone Dinguell." 

Besides these let- r • " 

ters, a large number . 
of old accounts are 
kept in the Charter- 
room : they are very 
interesting, and throw 
much light on the 
customs of the times, 
but are too long to 
quote in full here.^ 
Together with all the 
most interesting old 
documents, they have 
been published in the 
book of the Thanes of 
Cawdor, which was 
printed in 1858 for the 
members of the Spal- 
dingClub. As a speci- 
men of quaint spelling 
and wording may 
be taken the " Purs- 
maister's account" for ''the xxvi of September being Sonday." 

" Item giffen to yourself in the morning in the Kirkhaird to 
put in your nepiking end to the puire. ii. s. 

''Item your coUatoun [dinner] that evin upon Sonday in 
the same house ane point of wyne Sak. x. s. 

■ "It is curious to note that though there are many detailed accounts of the expenses of house- 
tceeping and of clothing, there is no mention of tartans ; and where the word plaid is used it is found to 
mean a blanket. Tartans were, of course, in use, but in Nairnshire, at all events up to 1 700, no great 
interest seems to have been attached to them, or any distinctions made as to the different patterns." — 
From an article on Cawdor, by Lord Emlyn's cousin, Mr. C. Tumor, in Architecture, vol. i., No. 10. 




DRYNACHAN 



1 88 (rawt)or Castle 

"Item ane quart aill. ii. s. 

"Item ane queyt braid, viii. d." 

This thane, John, was guardian of Argyll ; and his influence 
with the young man brought on him the jealousy of one Camp- 
bell of Ardkinlas, who murdered him, and though he confessed 
the crime was let off, — proving how thoroughly bad the govern- 
ment of Scotland was in the years immediately preceding James's 
accession to the English throne. 

The next thane was another Sir John, and a man of an am- 
bitious turn of mind, who had set his heart on gaining possession 
of the island of Isla, which was erroneously supposed to be a 
mine of wealth. The Macdonalds of the Isles were in a state 
of revolt, and Sir John received authority and assistance from the 
Government to reduce their stronghold of Dunyveg and take 
possession of the island. He succeeded in the undertaking, but 
the island did not turn out the gold mine he had expected, and 
the expense of the expedition, and of having to appear at the 
English Court with a retinue befitting the lord of the island, 
seems to have brought him within measurable distance of the 
bankruptcy court, had such an institution been invented in the 
good days of old. He sold and raised money on his estates in 
the north, and got rid of a good deal of plate ; and things got into 
such a bad way that his relations all sat in conclave to decide 
how to administer the estate to the best advantage, while his 
brother Colin wrote him a very sensible letter of advice as to his 
affairs, the postscript of which about his son's education is worth 
quoting. He writes : 

" I heir that ye mynd to put your sone to the college again. 
Sir, the best leasone that he may leirne now is to govern a brokin 
esteat, and the schoner that such a capabili youth leirnes it he 
will be the moir perfyt of it." 

The "capabili youth," however, when he grew up, did not 




CAWDOR CASTLE FROM THE BURN 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY WILSON, ABERDEEN 




190 



Cawdor Castle 



fulfil the promise of his childhood ; and though his brothers 
managed the property well, it remained for Sir Hugh, his nephew, 

-J whose wife, Lady Hen- 
rietta, has been already 
mentioned, to bring it 
to a thriving condition 
again. 

Sir Hugh took great 
interest in the church 
and in education, and 
his wife shared his 
tastes, and must have 
been a learned lady if 
she had thoroughly 
mastered the contents 
of her library of books, 
a list of which she left 
behind her. They 
seem to have been of a 
severely dry order, and 
I altogether an odd col- 
lection. The names of 




GATEWAY FROM THE MIDDLE TO THE LOWER COURT 



a few of her books may give an idea of the works a Scotch lady 
treasured in the year 1700 : Balm ofGilead, Sighs from Hell, Bun- 
yan's Pilgrim's Progress, Brown's Swan's Song, Hodder's Arithme- 
tic, Rules of Civility, Raleigh's Remains, Ruthven's Ladies' Cabinet 
Enlarged, Speed's Husbandry, and The Whole Duty of Man. 

Sir Hugh and his wife, in the intervals of reading and writing 
on religion and education, seem to have found time and money 
to make considerable alterations and additions to the Castle, and 
their coat of arms is engraved over the front door. They altered 
the " Great Hall," which is now used as the Drawing-room, and 




THE DRAWING-ROOM, CAWDOR CASTLE 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY WILSON, ABERDEEN 



191 



192 Cawbor Castle 

made it as it is now — a long narrow room with a fiddler's loft 
at one end and a very large fireplace at the other.' The win- 
dows look out towards the lodge, and the walls are hung with 
tapestry, while the uncovered beams and rafters form the ceiling. 
They also made the wide stone staircase which leads up from the 
ground floor to the rooms above the Drawing-room. On this 
floor there is another sitting-room, which contains a second 
curiously carved chimneypiece, with the date 1667 and the in- 
scription " Fear the Lord." It is called the Blue Room, and from 
it, at the corner of the outer wall, a room little larger than a cup- 
board is built out, overhanging the dry moat ; this is supposed 
to have been used by the ladies when they retired to adorn their 
fair faces with powder. In the same passage is the State Bed- 
room, the rough plaster walls of which are hung with old Flemish 
tapestry which Lady Henrietta bought. The colours and figures 
are grotesque, and the scenes represented are taken from the 
Bible : one subject is " Moses Striking the Rock," another is the 
" Crossing of the Red Sea," another represents Abraham, and a 
fourth the Cities of the Plain. The bill for this tapestry is still 
in existence : ft cost /^36y, and the freight from Flanders was no 
less than another /116. 

Another place of interest in the Castle is the Kitchen ; it is 
below the Dining-room, and with its thick walls and narrow 
windows looks as if it were intended for a second dungeon. 

The pretty old Upper Garden, with its apple trees, old- 
fashioned flowers, and gooseberry bushes, the delight of the 
rising generation, we owe also to Sir Hugh, who inclosed it with 

' " The style of his additions may be crude or capricious, but they lend a charm to the buildings, 
and look in keeping ; whereas, in many cases, were tiie details more finely executed, they would clash 
with the exceeding roughness of the surrounding walls. A chimneypiece of this period shows the first 
fruits of the Renaissance in Scotland — a term which, as to secular buildings in Scotland, does not imply 
a reawakening to tiie beauty of a former art, but rather the first awakening to the possibility of building 
anything for artistic effect and not solely for purposes of defence. Sir Hugh's work is that tine dormer 
window in the Corbie — stepped gablet — an ornate feature gaining additional value from the immense 
spread of plain-wall-surface below." — C. Turnor. 



Cawbor Caetle 195 

interest in all that was going on in Nairnshire, as is proved by 
his correspondence with his agent, Valentine White. 

For about a century and a half Cawdor was practically 
deserted, but after that time the family returned there and found 
everything just as Sir Hugh had left it ; and so it has remained 
ever since, unchanged and unspoiled. The tower still stands 
over the hawthorn tree, the drawbridge hangs as it has hung 
for centuries ; the stones of the Castle may be greyer and the 
trees round it older and more stag-headed, but no impious hand 
has been allowed to touch them ; and so Cawdor remains a 
perfect specimen of an old Highland Castle, and is very dearly 
loved by everyone privileged to call it home. 



Battle Hbbe^ 



197 




THE GATEWAY 



BATTLE ABBEY 



BY C. L. W. CLEVELAND 



THE great Benedictine Abbey of La Bataille — "the token 
and pledge of the Royal crown" — was founded by 
William the Conqueror, soon after his accession, in ful- 
filment of a vow. When, on his march from Hastings, he first 
caught sight, from the crest of Telham Hill, of the Saxon army 
entrenched on the opposite heights, he raised his hand to heaven, 
and swore that if God granted him victory, he would there raise 
a splendid chantry for the souls of the slain. The battlefield^ 
was then a rough, wild common, surrounded by forests and 
morasses, and only accessible by the narrow ridge of sound 

' Orderic calls it ' ' the thyme-clad field of Senlac " : in the Saxon Chronicle it is only designated 
"by the hoar apple-tree." 

199 



200 Battle Ubbc^ 

ground still followed by the modern road. It has been generally 
admitted that Harold, thoroughly as he knew the country, could 
have selected no finer military position than this steep project- 
ing spur of the North Downs, so easy to defend and so difficult 
to approach. Had the Saxons remained within their lines, and 
not abandoned this vantage ground, the fortunes of the day 
might have been far different. In the centre floated the great 
Dragon of Wessex, with the Royal Standard of the Fighting 
Man by its side ; and here, amid his own House-carls — the 
flower of his army — Harold took his stand,^ surrounded by his 
thanes and nobles, with three generations of the House of 
Godwin : the aged Archbishop Elfwig ; his brothers Gyrth and 
Leofwyn ; and young Hakon, the son of Sweyn. He had been 
riding round the lines, but now dismounted, "for it was the 
custom of English kings to fight on foot, in token that when 
they fought there was no retreat," and this was the key of the 
position, the special post of honour and of danger, to be de- 
fended at all hazards to the last. Here was to be held, in the 
words of the old chronicler, "the great assize of God's judg- 
ment upon earth," and the Crown of England lost and won. 
And here, accordingly, the battle raged most fiercely, and the 
last and most desperate struggle of that hard-fought day took 
place. The defenders did their duty nobly, and held their ground 
as long as the breath was in their bodies. Not until Harold 
and both his brave brothers lay dead at its foot was the stand- 
ard won : and, like the Scottish king at Flodden, 

" He was keeping 
Royal state and semblance still," 

surrounded, in death as in life, by the nobles of his court. None 

' " Matthew of Westminster, speaking of the early battles of this country, says, ' The King's 
place was between the Dragon and the standard.' Among the ensigns borne at Cressy was a burning 
dragon, to show that the French were to receive little mercy." — M. C. Lower. 




201 



202 Battle abbe^ 

had failed him, or deserted their post ; and all had sold their 
lives dearly. Here the last spark of resistance was trampled 
out, and the Conqueror, before putting off his armour, knelt 
down on the bloody field and returned thanks to God. Then 
he ordered his tent to be pitched where the standard had stood, 
and supped and slept among the heaps of slain. 

" Entre li mor^ mainga e hut," says Wace : a striking in- 
stance of the savage temper of the times ! 

This spot, so memorable in English history, was carefully 
marked out by the Duke's orders as the future site of the high 
altar of his Abbey church. He was mindful of his vow on the 
battlefield, for one of his first acts was to found and endow 
the monastery that was to be the thank-offering for his victory 
and the ''token and pledge" of the crown he had gained. It 
was dedicated to the patron of soldiers, St. Martin, and, in the 
words of its foundation charter, "the one great chantry for 
the souls' health of those who helped to win by toil and aid 
the kingdom for him, and especially of those who died in the 
battle." Its endowment was as splendid as the achievement 
it was to commemorate. Besides the lenga (a circuit of about 
three miles in diameter measured out by the line over which 
its jurisdiction extended), the Conqueror bestowed upon it the 
royal manor of Wye, considered by Lambarde to comprise a 
fifth part of the county of Kent, with all its liberties and royal 
customs, "as freely as a King could give them"; Alciston in 
Sussex, where the Abbots afterwards had a manor-house ; Hou 
in Essex, Brightwalton in Berkshire, and Crowmarsh in Oxford- 
shire. Within his own territory the Abbot was sole sovereign, 
and tolerated no interference. He alone "took cognisance of 
all trespasses," held a court of justice, appointed the coroner 
of the liberty, and punished criminals. The old "hangman's 
post," once in use, may still be seen projecting over the 



1 



I 



Battle Hbbe^ 203 

so-called prison door in the Gate-house. Nothing could be done 
or attempted without his permission — no business transacted, 
no trade carried on— no hunting, no hawking, or sport of any 
kind. No plea could be maintained without his licence. His 
tenants owed suit and service to none but himself; and his 
weekly market at La Bataille was ''quit for ever from all exac- 
tion." The Abbey was an inviolable sanctuary. No one who 
had ever set foot within its threshold could be touched by the 
arm of the law, whatever his crime might have been. More 
than this: if the Abbot ''throughout the realm of England" 
chanced to meet any condemned criminal, he had the power 
of pardoning and releasing him. Walsingham mentions a case 
when this happened in 1363, and a felon being taken to Mar- 
shalsea was released by the Abbot of La Bataille. Nor was he 
subject to any spiritual jurisdiction, for the Conqueror had de- 
clared that the Abbot was to be as supreme as the Primate 
of Canterbury, and the monastery as free and exempt from all 
episcopal authorities and levies as his own royal chapel. This 
was the privilege most valued by the monks, and always stoutly 
contested by the Bishops of Chichester. Of all the quarrels, 
heart-burnings, bickerings and lawsuits to which it gave rise, 
volumes might be, and in fact have been, written. Further- 
more, the Abbot wore a mitre, carried a bishop's crosier, gave 
the episcopal benediction, and sat in Parliament as a Baron. 
An inn, or town house, was provided for him both in London 
and Winchester : the former was in St. Olave's, Southwark, 
near Battle Bridge, where Tooley Street now stands, and Bat- 
tle Bridge Stairs still preserve the name. 

The Abbey was to be under Benedictine rule, and four monks 
of Marmoutier, headed by William Faber, came over to super- 
intend the building. But they were disgusted on finding that its 
appointed site was a steep wind-swept hill, and migrated across 



204 Battle abbep 

the western shoulder of Senlac into a sunny, sheltered hollow 
below, called Hurst. Here they proposed to settle ; but one day, 
the King happening to inquire into the progress of the work, they 
had to confess they had found "the hill with a parched soil, 
barren, and destitute of water," altogether unsuitable as a site, 
and been forced to choose another. The King was very wroth, 
and commanded them to return forthwith, and lay the founda- 
tions " in all haste " in the place he had appointed ; if there was 
no water, they should, if God spared his life, have more wine than 
there was water in any other abbey. Then they pleaded want 
of building material : the ground was wooded for miles and miles 
around, and how were they to build without stone ? The King 
replied that he would send ships to bring stone from Caen — the 
precious white stone of which our Norman kings were so chary — 
and defray the costs out of his own treasury. And so, perforce, 
the building was commenced in April 1067 ; ^nd soon after, a 
quarry was discovered close at hand. There is a legend that the 
King had been told in a dream "to build a minster as many feet 
long as he desired years of royalty for his posterity." After this 
cheering vision, which left the length of his dynasty to his own 
choice, the King rose at sunrise, and had the ground duly 
measured and staked out for a church five hundred feet long. 
But in the night invisible hands reduced the boundaries to three 
hundred and fifteen ; they were replaced, and twice again re- 
moved ; then the King gave way, and accepted the prescribed 
dimensions. Thus the great Abbey Minster was only three hun- 
dred and fifteen feet long, and yet one of the largest churches in 
England : longer than Rochester Cathedral or Ripon ; longer than 
Bath Abbey Church, Sherborne Minster, or Christchurch in 
Hampshire ; longer than Southwell, Manchester, or Romsey. 
But I am grieved to add no change of dynasty occurred at the 
date thus obtained — 1381. 



Battle abbe^ 205 

The building, once commenced, dragged on very slowly ; 
the first Abbot was not appointed till 1076 ; and the Conqueror 
did not live to dedicate his Abbey himself. On his deathbed 
he bequeathed to it several parting gifts, and spoke some sor- 
rowful words, which lead us to understand how strongly he 
had been moved by the hope of expiation in erecting this great 
chantry, where unceasing prayer was to be made for the dead. 
" From earliest youth I have been trained to the use of arms, 
and I am stained with blood. No one can tell the evils 1 have 
caused during the sixty years I have passed in this world of 
bitterness. I go now to account for them before the Eternal 
Judge." 

The Conqueror's bequest to La Bataille was a fresh grant of 
land, his pallium or coronation robe, enriched with gold and 
costly gems, and loaded with three hundred gold and silver 
amulets, containing relics of the saints, and a portable altar, also 
full of relics, used for celebrating mass during his expedition. 
This must have been the same ''altar in form of a feretory" on 
which Harold is represented in the Bayeux Tapestry as taking 
his fatal oath. With these Rufus sent, as is believed, his father's 
sword, to be preserved in the church for ever. There, too, hung 
the bede-roll of the knights and nobles that had fought with him 
in the great battle, and for whom their foundation charter en- 
joined the monks to pray. These names were probably solemnly 
read out on St. Celict's Day, the anniversary of the victory. But 
this famous Roll of Battle was afterwards much interpolated by 
the monks, who added "names that the time in every age 
favoured," generations after the Conquest. 

The Abbey was dedicated with great pomp in 1095 by 
William Rufus. He happened to be then at Hastings, waiting 
for a fair wind to cross to Normandy ; and coming over the day 
after Candlemas with a splendid retinue, was received by Anselm, 



206 



Battle Bbbe^ 



Archbishop of Canterbury, and a great concourse of the clergy. 
On this occasion the great rood of the nave of the Minster is 
mentioned: the choir had been ready in 1076; and in 1 124 the 
north arm of the transept was finished ; but the building was 
probably not entirely completed till long after that. 

The first of the thirty Abbots of La Bataille died shortly 
after its dedication. Of his successors there is a minute account 
till about 1200, when the monkish chronicle abruptly comes to 
an end. They were, apparently, litigious and troublesome neigh- 
bours, and keenly set on upholding their privileges. Walter 
de Lucy, the fifth Abbot (a brother of the famous Justiciar), 
boldly said to Henry 1. : "If thou destroyest ever so small a 
right of our Abbey, may God grant thou no longer wear the 
crown of England ! " His great contest with his hereditary foe- 
man, the Bishop of Chichester, is amusingly described by the 
chr6nicler. We read how the Bishop told the King roundly he 
had no right to interfere in spiritual matters ; how the King, 
provoked past all bearing, rapped out some words — carefully 
erased in the manuscript — conjectured to have been " gross Nor- 
man oaths " ; how the Chancellor, Thomas a Becket, interfered 
to check the prelate with the words, "Your Prudence must be 
careful " ; and how the latter finally told one falsehood so as- 
tounding that the Archbishop of Canterbury, "knowing how 
matters really stood, marked himself with the cross in token 
of astonishment." The Abbot pleaded his cause eloquently ; his 
brother, Richard de Lucy, stood by him manfully ; and in the 
end the Bishop had to disclaim all authority over him, and the 
parties gave each other "the kiss of peace," at the Archbishop's 
request. The King declared that he was ready to kiss the 
Bishop, "not only once, but a hundred times," — perhaps as 
some compensation to him for his defeat. 

The most celebrated of the abbots was Wafter's successor. 



Battle at>be^ 207 

Odo, a man renowned far and wide for his eloquence and learn- 
ing, the friend of the famous John of Salisbury and Thomas a 
Becket, and a "pattern in word and deed of a holy life to all." 
After his death, the people regarded him as a saint. He was 
fond of literary work, and some of his writings (one an Essay 
on the Spiritual IVings and Feathers of the Cherubim), remained 
in the library in Leland's time. 

Hamo de Offington, the nineteenth Abbot, was the hero 
of the local proverb, 

" Ware the Abbot of Battel 
When the Prior of Lewes is taken prisoner ; " 

and Fuller calls him "the Saviour of Sussex and all England." 
In 1377, the French having taken the Isle of Wight, and car- 
ried off the Prior of Lewes, coasted towards Winchilsea ; and 
Hamo, raising his vassals, hastened to the defence of the town, 
and successfully repulsed a vigorous and prolonged assault. 

Many royal visits were recorded during this period. King 
John came four times, and disappointed expectation in regard 
to liberality ; Henry 111. twice — before and after the battle of 
Lewes ; Edward I. and Edward II. both once. 

The Abbey had existed close upon five hundred years when 
it met its doom, on May 27, 1538, and passed, with all its pos- 
sessions, into the hands of Henry Vlll.'s commissioners. The 
dissolution of the smaller monasteries, two years before, had 
warned the monks of the impending spoliation, and they had 
warily disposed of all their valuables. "So beggarly a house I 
never se," writes Dr. Layton (one of the authors of the Black 
Book, and the most active and obnoxious of the monastic 
inquisitors): "nor so filthy stuffe ... the vestments so 
baysse, worn, ragged, and torne as your lordshippe would not 
thinke." The monks were all pensioned: of sixty (their 



208 



Battle abbe^ 



original number) sixteen only then remained; and the Abbot 
received the largest income ever granted to heads of houses — 
/loo a year ; a beggarly pittance to modern ideas ; but a penny 
was then, by Froude's computation, of the same value as a 
shilling is now, and the usual stipend of a parish priest only 
from ^4 to £S a year. According to the usual practice, the 
chapter-house, dormitory, sacristy, and cloisters were razed to 
the ground, and all the other buildings unroofed and disman- 
tled ; the Abbot's house alone being left in a habitable state. 
The great minster, with its campanile, was pulled down "for 
lucre of the leade, tymber, etc.," and the materials sold. 
"Church work," says old Fuller, "is a cripple in going up, 
but rides fast in going down"; and the beautiful "Basilica," 
that had been so long in building, was so rapidly and utterly 
demolished, that the new owner planted his garden on its site. 
This was Sir Anthony Browne, Master of the Horse to 
Henry Vlll., who, three months after the surrender, received 
a grant of Battle Abbey and all its lands in Sussex and Kent, 
with the sole exception of one manor, reserved for the Chief 
Commissioner, Sir John Gage. He was of high lineage, repre- 
senting a branch of the old Norman house of La Ferte, and the 
son of one of the four great Montagu heiresses, Lucy, Count- 
ess of Southampton ; an able and sagacious man, who had spent 
all his life at court, and, as "the well-guided ship that could 
go with the tide," always remained high in favour. The King 
appointed him one of the executors of his will, and guardian of 
his younger children, the Princess Elizabeth being placed under 
his special care. It was intended she should take up her abode 
at Battle Abbey, and he began to build a wing to the Abbot's 
house for her reception ; but he did not live to complete it, and 
she never came. His effigy with that of his first wife, Alice 
Gage, remains on the altar tomb in Battle Church that he is 



3BattIe abbe^ 209 

supposed to have erected himself, as the dates of his death and 
of his second marriage are both wanting. As a widower of 
the mature age of sixty-five, he had espoused a Court beauty 
of fifteen, Lady Elizabeth FitzGerald, Surrey's" peerless Gerald- 
ine." In 1542, he had inherited from his half-brother, William, 
Earl of Southampton, Cowdray and a great estate in West Sus- 
sex, with the spoils of four other religious houses, Eastbourne 
Priory, Waverley Abbey, Bayham, and Caluto. Although he 
professed himself through life a Roman Catholic, he seems to 
have had no qualms of conscience in assimilating Church prop- 
erty. Yet he was denounced for sacrilege on the very day 
when, with much festivity and rejoicing, he held his house- 
warming at Battle Abbey. As he sat in the Abbot's chair, in 
the Abbot's hall, presiding over his guests, a monk suddenly 
stood before him, and solemnly pronounced the Church's male- 
diction upon her spoliators. Unless they rendered up the 
possessions of which she had been robbed, this terrible anath- 
ema doomed them to " every curse with which God Almighty 
has cursed those who have said, ' Let us possess by inheritance 
the sanctuary of God,'" — a long and truly formidable list. But 
the monk foretold still another and more special calamity. " By 
fire and water," he declared, "thy line shall come to its end 
and perish out of the land." This prophecy, which appears to 
have been always remembered and often quoted in the country, 
was fulfilled to the very letter, but not until two hundred and 
fifty years afterwards, when Battle Abbey had long since passed 
into other hands. 

Sir Anthony's son was created Viscount Montagu by Queen 
Mary, and built himself a stately mansion on what is believed 
to have been the site of the former Guest-house of the Monas- 
tery. But his chief residence was at Cowdray, where he enter- 
tained Queen Elizabeth right royally for a week in 1591 ; and 



2IO Battle Hbbe^ 

his successors lived there almost entirely. Battle Abbey was occa- 
sionally used as a dower-house, but, as time went on, it was more 
and more neglected and abandoned, and latterly became, in its 
deserted condition, the haunt of smugglers, who stored their 
goods in the vaults. The third Viscount, who had suffered 
heavily in the Civil War, disparked the "Great Park" ; his son 
pulled down the enormous monastic kitchen (which had been 
retained for use as a barn), realising a large sum by the ma- 
terials ; and finally, in 17 19, the sixth Lord sold the place to 
Sir Thomas Webster. 

The next Lord Montagu, who married a Methodist of Lady 
Huntingdon's school, was the first of the family who left the 
Church of Rome, and it was on his only son that the monk's 
curse lighted. This young man, and his friend, Mr. Sedley 
Burdett, while on a boating excursion on the Rhine, made a 
foolhardy attempt to shoot the falls of Laufenberg. The authori- 
ties, knowing the risk, did their best to prevent it, but in vain : 
they heeded neither warning, remonstrance, nor prohibition. 
Even at the last moment, Lord Montagu's servant took hold of 
his coat, crying, " My lord ! my lord ! the curse of water ! " but 
he wrenched himself away, and sprang into the boat. It was 
upset at the second wave of the Laufen, and both he and his 
friend were drowned : nor, though often searched for, were 
their bodies ever recovered. 

The messenger carrying home the sad tidings crossed another 
bringing word to the poor young Viscount that his splendid house 
at Cowdray had been burnt to the ground. All its contents — 
some very valuable — were destroyed ; and among them perished 
the Conqueror's sword and coronation robe (long since despoiled 
of its gold and gems), and the Battle Abbey Roll, which, accord- 
ing to family Iradftion, had been brought there at the time of the 
sale. . 



Battle W)\)c^ 211 

The curse of water had, however, not yet done its work. 
Lord Montagu's only sister and heiress married Mr. Poyntz of 
Midgham, and was the mother of two sons and three daughters. 
One summer that they were staying at Worthing, Mr. Poyntz 
took his two boys, and two Miss Parrys who were on a visit to 
them, out in a boat. It was a very fme, calm day ; but Mrs. 
Poyntz, who is said to have had a horror of the water, refused to 
go ; and as the time of their return approached was sitting at the 
window watching the boat. It was already close in shore, when 
a sudden squall caught the sail and capsized it, and the wretched 
mother saw her two sons drowned literally before her eyes. Of 
all the party, Mr. Poyntz and the boatmen's boy alone were 
saved. None of the daughters had joined it : Lady Clinton, the 
eldest, was not with them ; and the two others, afterwards Lady 
Exeter and Lady Spencer, had, fortunately, not been ready in 
time to go. The property was divided between them ; and, by 
a singular fatality, one of Lady Exeter's younger sons was also 
drowned a few years ago. 

Sir Thomas Webster, " citizen and cloth-worker of London," 
the purchaser of Battle Abbey, was a very wealthy man, who 
had received a baronetcy from Queen Anne, in 1703. He not 
only repaired and restored the moribund buildings, but added 
some adjacent estates to the property and transmitted it to five 
generations of descendants. One of them was the first husband 
of the well-known Lady Holland. When she married, she found 
she was not to live at the Abbey, as a Dowager, who held it for 
life, was in possession ; and this old lady she made it her business 
to turn out. It suddenly became a haunted house, full of ghosts 
of the most aggressive kind : furniture was thrown about ; chains 
rattled in the gallery ; horrible groans and yells pursued the Dow- 
ager wherever she went ; and goblin voices spoke at her very 
elbow. But she was not to be daunted. She turned and 



212 Battle Ubbc^ 

confronted her invisible persecutors. "I know well enough 
what you want," she told them ; "but I sha'n't go : " and she did 
not. Perhaps it might have been better if she had, for she lived 
to be nearly a centenarian, and during her thirty-one years' ten- 
ancy had spent next to nothing in repairs, leaving the Abbey 
in a most ruinous condition. The roof was in such a state that 
the passages were flooded after a heavy rainfall, and the old 
lady had to proceed to her room on pattens ! 

She died in 1810, and was succeeded by Lady Holland's son, 
Sir Godfrey, who had then just come of age. He entirely refitted 
and repaired the Abbey, re-roofed the Abbot's Hall, and added 
several new rooms, a kitchen, and some outhouses. Would he 
had done no more ! But he next conceived what I must call 
the nefarious design of using the Refectory as a stable ; and 
demolished the Holy Well as an eyesore ! The entrance to the 
Abbey was then, singularly enough, iwt through the gateway, 
but on the east side, across the present flower garden, by a 
door opposite the church. Some years later, when this was 
changed, the Refectory stables were found inconvenient, and he 
built the present stables and coachhouses. Even here he did 
mischief, for he cut off a great angle of Sir Anthony Browne's 
garden (a square old-fashioned pleasaunce enclosed with yew 
hedges) to make room for them. 

Meanwhile he had involved himself so deeply in debt that in 
18 19 he was forced to shut up the place and go abroad. The 
usual dreary, oft-told tale of ruin and devastation followed. 
Much of the land was sold, and all the trees were cut down ; the 
park, that boasted of some of the grandest oaks in the county, 
was laid bare, and the fine woods destroyed. The timber is said to 
have realised nearly ;/; 100,000. Even the muniments were sold, 
and sold for an old song, though the Abbey chartulary is said to 
be one of the most complete in England. The Abbey was let for 




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Battle Hbbei? 215 

many years, and in 1857 sold to the Duke of Cleveland — then 
Lord Harry Vane. 

We found it had again lapsed into a forlorn and dilapidated 
state. When the sale was first proposed I went to see it on one 
of the public days, and met there Dean Milman. We went over 
the house together, and 1 well remember the emphasis with 
which he exclaimed, ''What a miserable habitation!" It cer- 
tainly did not wear an encouraging aspect — bare, gloomy, empty, 
uncared for, and altogether cheerless. In the hall hung a gigantic 
picture of the Battle of Hastings, painted with an heroic disregard 
of the costume of the period ; for the Conqueror (a likeness, it 
was said, of Sir Godfrey, who was a very good-looking man) 
figured as an ancient Roman, in a loose white tunic, with his 
arms and legs bare. There used to be, I was told, a stuffed horse 
over the fireplace, which was shown to guileless visitors as 
*' William the Conqueror's horse." 

Everything, it appeared, required to be done to the place, and 
the work of restoration was an arduous undertaking. But the 
Duke not only restored and refitted the house from top to bot- 
tom, re-roofing nearly the whole, but made numerous improve- 
ments, built four new rooms, added new windows to the Abbot's 
Hall, and completed and nearly rebuilt Queen Elizabeth's wing, 
that had so long remained unfinished. 

The gateway, by far the most beautiful part of the Abbey, 
alone remained untouched (the defective stonework of one win- 
dow excepted). It was built by Abbot Retlynge in the time of 
Edward III., when, according to Somer, "a military /^rof seems 
to have prevailed among the ecclesiastics," somewhat in the style 
of St. Augustine's at Canterbury ; and having had the rare good 
fortune never to be tampered with, is a very perfect specimen of 
the Late Decorated period. Standing on higher ground, at the 
end of the little town, it rises in feudal stateliness above all its 



2i6 Battle Ebbe^ 

surroundings: "a situation," says Walpole, "noble beyond the 
level of abbeys." On the open space in front, the old bull- 
ring, still fixed in the ground, marks where the favourite Sussex 
sport of bull-baiting yearly went on in Whitsun week. To the 
west it is joined to a much older building, which retains one of 
its original Norman windows ^ on the farther side : to the east is a 
wing added by Lord Montagu as a Market House and Court Hall, 
probably in 1566, when he obtained an Act of Parliament for 
changing the weekly market from Sunday to Thursday. Its roof 
— no doubt long neglected — fell in during a great storm in 1 764, 
and it is now a mere shell. The gateway contains a fine central 
hall, reached by a carefully guarded staircase, that had not only a 
portcullis, but open spaces in its ribbed vaulting, for pouring 
down boiling oil or melted lead on unwelcome visitors. There is 
a good view from the roof of the country round, and the several 
localities of the battlefield. 

To the right, as you pass through, the hangman's post, jut- 
ting out from the wall, proclaims the Abbot's droit de haute jus- 
tice: under it is the door of a dark vault that is called, but 
certainly never was, the prison. The half-effaced corbel-heads 
supporting the hood-mould of the inner archway are believed to 
represent Edward 111. (who granted "licence to castellate" in 
1338) and his Queen. 

The present entrance to the Abbey is not that originally in 
use, which was on the north side, where the offices now are, but 
leads through a porch into the Abbot's Hall, the scene of the 
monk's curse. It is of noble proportions, measuring fifty-seven 
feet both in height and in length, and thirty-one feet wide ; with 
a fine timber roof, which, though modern, is a faithful copy of 
the ancient one taken down in 181 2, and is of walnut wood 
grown in the park. All the oak wainscotting and carved work, 

' Note : The only Norman masonry that now survives. 



Battle Hbbe^ 217 

as well as the great fireplace, were added by Sir Godfrey at the 
same time. The old windows, alas ! are no more : those we 
found were ''churchwarden Gothic," filled with kaleidoscopic 
glass — not even wind and weather-tight, and had necessarily to 
be replaced. This was accordingly done in 1874: the great 
south window being copied from one in Strasburg Cathedral, 
and the three looking west taken from the Percy chapel at Pet- 
worth. The stained glass is all heraldic : the south window 
showing the Duke's coats-of-arms, and some of the Paulet^ 
quarterings, continued in the next : the two others, twenty- 
four descents and intermarriages of the Vanes. Between the 
windows are ranged the shields and banners of the chief lead- 
ers in the Conqueror's army : the men whose swords won the 
kingdom : 

" Cunquise I'unt cum chevaliers 
Au fer tranchant e al acier," 

a proud array of great names, for the most part, unhappily, 
extinct, but unforgotten : and here, of all places in the world, to 
be honoured and remembered. Over the fireplace, two shields 
bear the arms of England and of the Abbey ; and two banners dis- 
play, one the two lions or leopards of Normandy, the other the 
gold cross on a silver field (figured in the Bayeux tapestry) of the 
consecrated banner sent to Duke William by the Pope, and in 
after times, with the addition of four cross crosslets, the arms of 
the Kings of Jerusalem. The coat and quarterings of the Vis- 
counts Montagu are over the music gallery ; and in the centre of 
the mantelpiece, and again on the chimney-back of wrought 
Sussex iron, the arms of the Websters. The two suits of armour 
are not genuine, nor are the trophies on the walls : but the tapes- 
try is good old arras, representing scenes from the Gerusalemme 
Liber ata. The pattern of the tile flooring I brought from the 

• In 1 864 the Duke had taken the name and arms of his grandfather, the last Duke of Bolton. 



2i8 ^Battle abbei? 

ancient sacristy of Burgos Cathedral. The pictures are chiefly 
family portraits ; there are, besides, a full-length by Lefevre, of 
Napoleon I., in his absurd coronation robes, bought from one of 
his Marshals ; the altar-piece of the church at Savona, signed by 
Boccacini, and two Zurbarans of white-robed friars, from Louis 
Philippe's collection. The smaller one represents St. Peter 
Nolasco, the founder of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy for the 
redemption of Christian slaves, with its badge, the shield of King 
Jayme el Conquistador, on his breast. 

Two ancient rooms open into this hall. One, rather low- 
pitched, is of graceful Early English groining, divided into a 
double alley by three central pillars ; and is conjectured to have 
been the Locutory, or Parlour of the monastery. What are 
now windows were then doors leading into a room beyond ; 
and there were three windows looking north, of which one 
still remains. It is now fitted up as a drawing-room, with 
tapestry hangings ; but in the last century it was partitioned, 
part being used for storing faggots, and the rest tenanted by 
an old servant named Isaac Ingall, who, according to his epi- 
taph, was a hundred and twenty years old. Ninety of these 
years had been spent in the Webster household ; yet when, 
shortly before his death, his mistress found fault with him for 
being dirty, he was so nettled that he forthwith gave warning, 
left her service, and started off (on foot) to Hastings, to inquire 
for another situation ! 

The other, far smaller room, is supposed to have been the 
Abbot's parlour, and to have communicated with a curious tri- 
angular projection in the outer building, that was his oratory. It 
must have been very lofty, for half its original window lights the 
bedroom above. Now it has lapsed from its high estate into a 
low, panelled, cosy den, chiefly used by me, and hung with 
water-colour copies of pictures 1 have made abroad. 




THE DRAWING-ROOM, BATTLE ABBEY 

SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN THE LOCUTORY OF THE MONASTERY 



219 



2 20 Battle Ubbc^ 

Queen Elizabeth's wing, left incomplete by Sir Anthony 
Browne, is now occupied by a long and very handsome room, 
lighted by five great Tudor windows, three of them bays. Look- 
ing south and west, it is so flooded with sunshine, that we had to 
guard it in the summer by outer Venetian blinds. It is entered 
from the hall through an ante-room built by the Duke, and con- 
tains the great library that he had been all his life collecting. He 
delighted in his books, and many of them are, 1 believe, very 
valuable : it was not, however, his object to seek out curiosities 
and rarities, but rather works for everyday use, and as a library 
designed for study and reference it is, by all accounts, very com- 
plete. The family pictures over the bookcases are almost all 
copies : there is, however, a portrait of the Duke that is one of 
Frank Holl's finest works, and another of his father, by Romney. 
Among the copies is a half-length of the loyal Marquis of Win- 
chester, who defended Basing House for two whole years against 
the Parliament ; and on a paper weight on one of the tables are 
some bullets found in its ruins, that were cast from the coffins of 
the Duke's ancestors. The rebels had installed themselves in the 
Holy Ghost Chapel at Basingstoke, the burial-place of the Paulets, 
and furnished themselves with ammunition by completely clear- 
ing out the family vault. This room also contains a full-sized 
coloured copy of the Bayeux tapestry. 

There are some pictures in the ante-room, but the best are in 
the Dining-room, which dates from Lord Montagu's time, but is 
not otherwise noteworthy. Here we find Vandermeulen's " Siege 
of Dunkirk," with portraits of Louis XIV., Conde, Turenne, etc. ; a 
''Lawyer," by Domenichino, painted with a halter round his 
neck ; a very pretty Greuze ; and, over the chimneypiece, the 
original sketch of the famous "Gloria di Tiziano," which was held 
up before Charles V.'s dying eyes at Yuste. This belonged to the 
poet Rogers. 



15attle Bb\)e^ 221 

On the wall of the staircase hangs a full length, by 
Gainsborough, of James Quin, the actor, whose epitaph Garrick 
wrote. It is a dark picture, and unfortunately in a very bad 
light. One or two stray waifs from the chartulary are also here, 
with drawings, old prints, and plans of the Abbey. 

Some other remaining portions of the monastic buildings 
have been unfortunately degraded into offices. One very fine 
vaulted room, like the one already described but of far grander 
proportions, has been ruthlessly cut up into five parts. Its great 
portal, now half destroyed, was probably once the principal 
entrance. Another, now the servants' hall, has been little 
tampered with ; and, though disfigured by three hideous mod- 
ern windows, is still beautiful ; it communicated by a newel 
stair with what is conjectured to have been the dormitory 
above, long since destroyed.^ A small flagged hall, called the 
Beggars' Hall, because, it is said, the twelve poor men whose 
feet the monks washed on Maundy Thursday there waited for 
admission, opens on the former Cloister Garth. Of this, only 
the internal arcading of the west alley remains along the front 
of the house ; all else is gone, and its site is now a garden. 
Here, inclosed in a square of masonry seven feet high, once 
stood the Holy Well (from which Ordericus probably named 
the place Senlac), where, in Queen Elizabeth's time, the village 
girls used to come on Sundays, "like a young pilgrimage," 
singing litanies and bringing flowers. Alas ! it was taken down 
as unsightly, and the water transferred to a pump ! 

On the south side of the Cloister Garth a magnificent room 
— perhaps the Chapter-house — stretched out eastwards: its 
inner wall now forms the outer wall of our dining-room, and 
its exquisite cornice and cinquefoiled arcading have been cruelly 
mauled in making our present windows. The jamb of one of 

* The King's Commissioners expressly enjoined the demolition of all "dorters." 



222 Battle abbe^ 

the original windows — of very great size — remains in the 
broken south wall. 

To the north and east it was bounded by the nave and tran- 
sept of the minster ; and part of the ruined wall of the former is 
all that now remains above ground of the once splendid church. 
Even this poor remnant was excavated by Sir Godfrey, when he 
destroyed part of the old " pleasaunce " to build his stables. On 
the inner side (now the wood yard) an empty tomb, fondly 
believed to be that of Abbot Odo, has been brought to light. 
Many bones were, 1 am told, dug up, and thrown away in a 
heap in a corner of the yard ; it never occurred to any one 
to give them burial, and they gradually disappeared, in the 
pockets of the visitors ! The crypt under the chancel had been 
discovered a year or two before, in what was then the Abbey 
orchard. There had always been a persistent tradition, handed 
down from father to son, as to the place where King Harold 
was killed, and one particular spot on the turf was faithfully 
pointed out to sight-seers. At that time no one even guessed 
where the church had stood ; generation after generation had 
passed away since its demolition ; and if the waves of the sea 
had closed over it, it could scarcely have been more utterly 
lost. There were no indications of any kind to guide the ex- 
plorer ; but Sir Godfrey, wishing to test the truth of the tradi- 
tion, had the ground dug up, — and there, on the very spot it 
had indicated, he found the high aftar of the crypt, corre- 
sponding with that once in the chancel above ! No historic 
locality could, I suppose, be better ascertained or authenticated 
than this, marked out, immediately after the battle, by order of 
the Conqueror. This crypt consists of three converging chapels, 
clustered together like the leaves of a trefoil, and each forming a 
pentagon ; the caps from which the low vaulting sprang are still 
discernible, and on either side are the winding stairs that led to 




223 



2 24 Battle U\)bc^ 

the church above. In the central chapel stands the high altar, 
little damaged, and surrounded by its original pavement. We 
found the whole place choked with reeds, and half full of water 
— "a dark and reedy pool," as Sir Francis Palgrave describes it. 
*'A11 forlorn and shattered, amidst stagnant water, stands the 
high altar stone of Battle Abbey," in the pathetic words of Lord 
Lytton. The crypt has now been efficiently drained. No res- 
toration has ever been attempted in any part of this noble build- 
ing ; the crypts remain as they were when first built. 

To the south rises the great building known as the Refec- 
tory, that once adjoined the south transept of the church, and 
was spared from demolition in 1538, to be used as a barn or 
granary. Now it has been banked up at one end to admit Sir 
Godfrey's horses ; and it will be seen that they were magnifi- 
cently lodged, for this great hall measures one hundred and fifty 
feet by thirty feet. It is lighted by a double range of Early Eng- 
lish windows ; tall, graceful lancets, crossed by transoms, with 
slender pillars and mouldings of Caen stone. Many have, I am 
sorry to say, been wantonly injured ; some have lost their shafts, 
and others have been closed and converted into stalls. There 
were several small fireplaces, and of these two still remain. For 
many long years it has been roofless ; and a flooring of asphalt, 
laid under the turf, protects the three crypts beneath from the 
weather. These so-called crypts were never in reality under- 
ground ; but soil and rubbish have accumulated round them in 
the course of years to an almost inconceivable extent. Eight 
feet of earth had to be cleared away from one of the lower 
doors ! As the Refectory was built on the slope of a steep hill, 
these crypts stand on very different levels, and vary greatly in 
height ; but all have the same beautiful early vaulting, said to 
have been first suggested by a forest of stone pines ; and there 
can be little doubt that the blending of these graceful and 



Battle abbe^ 225 

harmonious lines have much in common with their habit of 
growth. The upper, and therefore lowest of the three, is fifty-six 
feet long and thirty-four wide, divided by a double range of pil- 
lars, and has six windows, which I found half closed with ma- 
sonry, as it had been made into an icehouse. One antiquary 
christened it the Day Room used by the monks : but there is no 
fireplace ; and though I for one am fully convinced that men in 
those days were not the chilly mortals they are now, still the 
stone bench running round the wall would have been rather a 
penitential seat in cold weather. All the columns here, as else- 
where, are of Purbeck marble ; one has been partly re-polished 
by the busy fingers of the visitors. At the north end of the 
centre aisle, looking towards the minster, a large cross of white 
stone and of rather unusual form is inserted in the wall. 

The next crypt, divided by a passage, is small and narrow, 
though, of course, loftier, and again unwarmed. From this a 
stair in the thickness of the wall leads down to the lowest, 
and incomparably the finest of the three, supposed to have been 
the Scriptorium or library of the monastery. Here the archi- 
tect, no longer cramped as to height, at last had full play, and 
might frame his proportions on a more ambitious scale. Here 
he could raise his groining twenty-three feet above the floor- 
level, and launch forth into a bolder and wider style, with three 
lofty and very massive columns supporting his roof Here, too, 
he built a fireplace of grandiose dimensions, that would comfort 
the heart of even a nineteenth-century shiverer, and introduced 
a very beautiful window of rather later date than the rest, which 
are all purely Early English. I think it may, however, be a 
subsequent addition. At the south-east angle a stair communi- 
cated with another very large building to the east, of which 
only the wall and two arches are left. This noble Scriptorium, 
again, was degraded into a stable, and terribly misused : the 



226 Battle Hbbei? 

pavement was broken up, and one of the doors destroyed, as 
too low and narrow for the horses ; a broad, square opening 
was made for them, and, for some purpose or other, a deep niche 
was cut in the wall. 

To do full justice to the great size and importance of the 
Refectory, it should be seen from the south side, by descending 
to the level of the Lower Terrace. The great gable, towering 
majestically aloft, here asserts its pride of place, and stands out 
grandly against the blue sky, which relieves the warm mellow 
tone of its colouring and shines through the eyeless lancet 
windows. 

This Lower Terrace — very dear to us as our sun-trap and 
winter walk — faces due south, and extends westwards along a 
heavily buttressed building that formed part of the monastery. 
It contains a range of eight barrel-roofed vaults that are conjec- 
tured to have been store-rooms, each exactly like the other, and 
each lighted by a narrow lancet window. One of these has been 
broken through to make the present entrance. It is this vault 
that contains the only fireplace, which a former guide always 
used to point out as the "place where the poor nun was walled 
up." 

On this superstructure Lord Montagu built his manor-house, 
of which the two stair-towers only are left standing. All we 
know of it is from the print in Buck's Antiquities (dated 174^), 
that shows a stately Elizabethan frontage, with a broad window 
between each buttress, lighting, as is said, a gallery one hun- 
dred and sixty-two feet long. It met Queen Elizabeth's wing 
at a right angle, and at its east end joined a tower dating from 
the time of the monks. The Websters never occupied it ; the 
Montagus had deserted it long before for Cowdray ; and hav- 
ing been so long uninhabited, it had fallen utterly out of repair. 
Its restoration would have proved very costly, and a thrifty Sir 



Battle Ubbc"^ 227 

Whistler Webster pulled it down about the middle of the last 
century, converting the site into a terrace. We found it in a 
deplorable state : littered and dilapidated, with a yawning rift 
in the centre, through which one might peer down into the 
vault beneath. Now these vaults have been protected from rain 
and snow, and the Upper Terrace affords a dry and pleasant, if 
rather breezy walk ; and a capital point of vantage for survey- 
ing the battlefield. We here stand on the very crest of the hill 
held by the Saxons which, now cut up into terraces, then fell 
away steeply to the lower ground below. The topography is 
rather confused by the wooded mounds (often mistaken for 
ancient earthworks) thrown up by Sir Godfrey in making the 
great pond in front ; and the three stew-ponds are the work of 
the monks. But the principal features of the country are, of 
course, unchangeable. It was over yonder high hill to the left, 
crossed by the present road to Hastings, that the Conqueror 
came. There, he vowed to build his Abbey, and told off his 
army in the three divisions that were to make the attack ; 
whence, it is said, is derived its name of Telham Hill. The 
right wing, commanded by Roger de Montgomeri, afterwards 
Earl of Shrewsbury, Chichester, and Arundel, and the founder 
of a great English house, was composed chiefly of soldeiers 
(mercenaries) from Picardy, Boulogne, and Poix, and charged 
up the steepest part of the hill, where the houses of the Lower 
Lake now stand, and the road leads down to the station. The 
left wing, formed by the men of Brittany, and led by the son of 
their Count, Alain le Roux, the future Earl of Richmond, attacked 
farther away to the west, where the slope is easier, and the little 
stream of the Asten, rising near the gateway, falls into a deep 
gorge on the farther side of the hill. The centre, under the 
Duke himself, comprised the flower and pride of the invading 
army. There, under Neel de St. Sauveur, were arrayed the men 



228 Battle abbe^ 

of the Cotentin, descended from the Danes of Harold Blaatand ; 
with the archers of Evreux and Louviers ; the Danes of Bayeux ; 
and ''the great company of vavassors of "Normandy, who to save 
their lord would have put their own bodies between him and 
the enemie's blows." He directed the assault against the centre 
of Harold's position ; and it must have been over the ground 
immediately below us that he led his men, and that ensued the 
fierce melee where he w^as twice unhorsed, and the ominous cry, 
''The Duke is down! the Duke is down!" sounded over the 
battlefield. He was here confronted by the vanguard of the 
Saxon army, where the men of Kent — 

" A merveille se combattaient " 

claiming the post of honour as their birthright, for "whenever 
the King goes to battle, the first blow belongs to them." They 
bore on their banner then, as now, the Pale Charger, or White 
Horse of Hengist ; but their proud motto of Invicta was not 
earned on that day. 

To the right, but hidden by the trees, a mound on some 
rising ground in the park marks the outpost, so obstinately de- 
fended by the Saxons, that the Bretons there wavered and gave 
way ; and the hillside beyond was so hotly contested, that the 
ravine of the Asten was completely choked and bridged over 
with the dead. It was from this point that the position they 
had failed to storm was successfully turned, and the Normans 
entered the Saxon lines. 

On the north side of the town, crowning the highest point 
of the hill, stands the Watch Oak, from whence, it is said, Harold 
looked out, day after day, for the coming of the invaders. The 
present tree can, however, only be its successor and representa- 
tive, as it is by no means old. 

The famous Malfosse, or deep swamp, partly concealed by 



3BattIe Hbbe^ 



229 



brambles, into which so many Norman horsemen plunged and 
lost their lives in their headlong pursuit of the enemy, lies 
behind the parish church, but is no longer a swamp. 

I think I have now fully and conscientiously discharged my 
duties as cicerone. No one can complain that 1 have been too 
brief; nor have 1, I fear, earned the well-deserved praise be- 
stowed upon a professional guide who used to show the place. 
''The visitors think a good deal of me, my lady," he assured 
me. "They say 1 tell them a great many things they have 
never heard before." 



Cbatswortb 



231 




CHATSWORTH FROM THE PARK 



CHATSWORTH 



BY A. H. MALAN 



PROBABLY at some time the reader has formed one of 
those eighty-four thousand people computed to visit 
Chatsworth annually, and therefore may be presumed 
to be fairly familiar with the portion of the interior open to 
the public. But, unfortunately, those parties which, every day 
throughout the year except Sundays, await their turn of admit- 
tance have neither time nor opportunity to scrutinise very closely 
any of the manifold treasures of what is at once a palace and a 
museum. A leisurely survey is essential for any real acquaint- 
ance with the contents, the different departments, of sculpture, 
paintings, sketches, etc., all deserving to be carefully gone 



233 



234 Cbatswortb 

through ; and that, moreover, with the assistance of catalogues 
which appear to be as yet unwritten. 

As one sees it, Chatsworth is the creation of the first Duke 
of Devonshire, with additions and embellishments by the sixth. 
Not a trace now remains of that house with which Mary Stuart 
became so familiar, except a turned staircase in the north-east 
corner ; even the two rooms till recently called after her are 
gone ; not that that is matter for any particular regret, consider- 
ing that, at the time of their absorption, all their contents were 
a century later than the Scottish queen's day, even to the state 
bed on which she was supposed to have slept, but which be- 
lied the supposition by displaying ducal coronets on its feet. 
Out in the park, by the Derwent bridge, there is, of course, 
that moated, high-walled inclosure known as Mary's Bower ; 
and that may be judged to be contemporary with the older 
house, since, however hard it be to think such a solid affair 
would be constructed for just one state prisoner, it is still harder 
to imagine any other reason for which it would be built. But 
as for the house itself as it was in George Talbot's day, we are 
left to a representation of it in a frame of needlework upstairs ; 
for noticing which, when we come to it, there is this additional 
reason, that it is almost the only piece of old work to be seen 
— except the cloth of state, hailing from Hardwick, still retain- 
ing, though restored, enough of the original embroidery to 
show that the fingers that elaborated it were neither those of 
the Countess nor of Mary Stuart, but rather of Christian 
Bruce. 

Not having been guide-conducted, I scarcely know by what 
route visitors are taken round ; but from having encountered 
groups at sundry points, their course appears to be somewhat 
as follows. The vestibule entered, and a few steps mounted, 
you cross a corridor paved with ancient marble ; and if you 




235 



4 



2 36 Cbatswortb 

are pleased to admire its smooth, variegated surface, instead of 
too curiously looking ahead, you will be fulfilling the very pur- 
pose for which it was laid down : an unavoidable but unob- 
trusive irregularity of lines, consequent on structural alterations, 
having been the cause of this novel method of beguiling the 
eye being here employed. Then into the Painted Hall, whose 
warm colouring, above and around, amply entitles it to its name ; 
where the mass of colour, spared from all gaudy glare, through 
the none-too-many windows opening only into the court, is 
saved from a too-religious dimness, thanks to the light, bright 
face of the polished marble pavement. Near the windows, on 
that pavement, you observe the caique, a Sultan's gift, that, 
having once had its home on the Bosphorus, has spurned all 
meaner waters since. 

The next move will be round to the South Corridor, pass- 
ing, on your left, outside of some private sitting-rooms, including 
one pillared and panelled with dark carved oak, in all proba- 
bility " made in Germany," since it came from a German mon- 
astery. The effect may be somewhat heavy by day, because 
the stone balustrade outside cuts off so much of the light ; but 
what matters that? A smoking-room it was predestined to 
become when the learned Parr, in 1813 — with all outrageous- 
ness, then — demanded some room to smoke in ; a smoking- 
room it is ; and with a big fire and lamps the old oak lights up 
well, especially with the help of the bits of colour in Carmi- 
chael's pictures. Just beyond this room is the Chapel: ''the 
least altered part of Chatsworth ; painted by Verrio, carved by 
Gibbons, what could be left for Sir Jeffry Wyatville to do ? " 
You may perhaps notice that Verrio's masterpiece, over the 
western altar, seems cleverly painted to suit its position ; the 
lighting of the composition, diagonally downwards .from left to 
right, coinciding with, but not being wholly due to, the slant- 



238 Cbatewortb 

ing light from the end window, — an effect, however, more 
noticeable from the gallery above. 

If we now retraced our steps to gain the next floor, at the 
head of the main staircase we should find a Derbyshire marble 
doorway, through which are reached two drawing-rooms, a 
music-room, billiard-room, and the chapel gallery ; and if we 
entered, in the course of our progress we should see Canova's 
"Hebe," and, among other large paintings, Mary Stuart (Zuc- 
chero), Henry VIll. (Holbein), and "that face which seldom 
wore and never met a frown," "the beautiful Duchess" (by 
Sir Joshua), of which a faithful but more highly coloured copy, 
by Sir Thomas Lawrence, hangs in the gallery at Windsor Cas- 
tle ; also Luca Giordano's "Venus Rising out of the Sea," 
Rembrandt's "Jewish Rabbi," and a portrait of the seventh 
Duke. 

And if we remained here between the hours of eleven and 
four we should surely appreciate the excessive indulgence ac- 
corded the public, in being granted access to the house at all 
when the Duke and Duchess are in residence. For overhead 
happen to be the state rooms ; and the proximity of the said 
public is made most convincing by the tramping of heels, first 
p., then cresc. on to/"., and subsiding back to^., like the ani- 
mating measures of Michaelis's " Turkish Patrol " : to hear which 
performance repeated about every half-hour becomes a rather 
wearisome thing, if not a strain on the nerves beneath. 

Or if, instead of lingering here, we were allowed to pro- 
ceed northwards out of the first drawing-room, we should make 
acquaintance with that Library which contains, amongst its rari- 
ties, the Liher Veritatis of Claude Lorraine, the Benedictionale 
of S. Ethelwold, Henry VII. 's Missal, a beautifully illumined 
Petrarch, and such a store of reference works as scholars 
alone are competent to appreciate ; though, at the same time, 




ENTRANCE GATEWAY TO CHATSWORTH 



239 



240 Cbatswortb 

those who are content with scanning the names of books as 
they stand on a library shelf, without any desire to look into 
their interiors, have their curiosity amply gratified by a liberal 
assortment of such taking titles as Howe's Answer to Watt, 
Godolphin on Flying Fish, and Brunei's Whole Duty of Man. 

But all of these rooms being private, you omit them by 
passing along the Picture Gallery outside, where your atten- 
tion is requested, by a well-versed attendant, to a collection 
nearly all brought from Devonshire House, including two beau- 
tiful Watteaus, two Salvator Rosas, "The Virgin in the Tem- 
ple," by Bernardin von Orley, and the earliest known dated 
picture by Van Eyck (142 1), "The Consecration of Thomas a 
Becket." And it may be allowable to remark that the percep- 
tion of their merits will very largely depend upon that degree of 
skill with which you can manage to dodge those tiresome 
reflections from the opposite windows. 

At the end of this corridor, however, is a room requiring no 
such precautions, and decked with several conspicuous works in a 
small compass — to wit, the Red Velvet Room. Here are quickly 
recognised the originals of two familiar engravings, " Laying 
down the Law," and "Bolton Abbey." Besides these, portraits, 
about the same size, of Lady Betty Foster and the beautiful Duch- 
ess, — the former, perhaps, looking more bewitching than the 
latter, though the picture is rather faded ; also a highly finished 
group, by Landseer, of Mr. R. Cavendish with greyhound and 
goshawk. As to this, it is evident that, contrary to the prac- 
tice of all English falconry, the hawk is taking wing from the 
right instead of the left fist ; and, besides being held by a most 
unusual scope, it is equipped with a leash whose swivel is mani- 
festly at the wrong end ; but it would be too presumptuous to 
maintain therefrom that the great painter did not transcribe the 
details as he saw them before him. For, on being asked his opin- 




QEORQIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE AND CHILD (LADY CARLISLE) 

AFTER SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS 



241 



242 Cbatswortb 

ion on the matter, that practical falconer, the late Lord Lilford, 
replied: "I know a curious incident in connection with another 
of Landseer's pictures, which shows his general minute attention 
to detail. In the picture to which I refer, a falcon is represented 
as ' binding on ' to a heron, with the swivel attached to her jesses. 
I was mentioning this to my old Gamaliel in falconry, the late E. 
G. Newcome, who told me he was present when Landseer made 
the sketch, and that in this case the falcon was actually unhooded 
at the heron with the swivel attached to the jesses. 1 should 
guess that this was a unique instance of such carelessness." 

Another staircase mounted, you reach the parquet-floor of 
the state rooms : those lofty apartments, so sumptuous and pala- 
tial, and withal so devoid of usefulness and comfort. It is here, 
more especially, that 

" on ceilings you devoutly stare, 
Where sprawl the works of Verrio and Laguerre," 

and where, in less strained attitude, and probably with keener 
delight, you note those marvellous examples of carving in " lime- 
tree," representing dead game, etc., attesting the infinite skill of 
a master's hand, be that master Grinling Gibbons, Lobb, or Wat- 
son ; for Gibbons is said never to have put his name on his work ; 
and the architect, Talman, employed Lobb and Watson ; so that 
it is now difficult to distinguish. Let us suppose we enter the 
State Dining-room first. Over the mantelpiece are the very 
choicest specimens of this bird-carving, limned with marvellous 
fidelity to nature. One rather wonders whether Verrio showed 
equal fidelity to his model when, as a Fury cutting the thread of 
Fate, a certain aggravating person, with whom he was brought in 
contact, was here depicted ; one would prefer to say ''immortal- 
ised," did not these ceilings already show the wasting hand of 
Time. That rosary on the central table (resting on a piece of 




THE CHAPEL AT CHATSWORTH 



243 



Cbat0wortb 



245 




QEORQIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE 



work done by Queen Adelaide) once belonged to Henry VIII.; 
in finding its way here it is said to have cost as much as all the 
oak in the oak parlour below. Those 
malachite tables, and that clock with 
the very impossible boat, are some 
of the many gifts of the Tsar Nicho- 
las to the sixth Duke. 

In the contiguous room is a 
portrait of the first Duke, and some 
tapestry (old) from Raffael's car- 
toons ; in the next one, from out 
the doorway in the cuir repousse, 
peeps that fiddle which Verrio, so 
't is said, painted to deceive Gib- 
bons, as Gibbons' pen was carved 
to deceive Verrio. The dragons on the vases in this room are 
very observable, since they have five claws. Still passing on, 
you are probably so taken up with inspecting, at a respectable 
distance, the cloth of state and the stamped leather and the bril- 
liant ceiling, as not to notice on the window-sill, just at your 
elbow, the plaster model of a monument at Hildelbank, with 
its striking conception of the rending of the tomb. In the end 
room of this suite, the lace-cravat, carved out of a single piece, 
is supposed to be Gibbons' parting gift. 

And then one would like to stop in the Sketch-gallery, to ex- 
amine that extremely valuable series of original sketches than 
which few things at Chatsworth are more admired ; it was 
brought together entirely by the second Duke, and since then has 
been classified according to the several schools and hung here 
behind protecting blinds. But perhaps this gallery is not open 
to visitors ; and if it be, no explanatory catalogue seems avail- 
able ; and so down you go again, through a bewildering course of 



246 



Cbatswortb 



corridor and staircase, to find yourself landed at last at the thres- 
hold of that chamber of imagery, the Sculpture Gallery. The 
lustreless sandstone-backing shows off the statuary to great ad- 
vantage in any light ; but the very best time for coming here, 
albeit in uncanonical hours, is about nine on a summer morning ; 
for then the diffused sunshine flowing in through the clerestory 
windows imparts a beautiful bloom and tender half-tone to the 
sculpture, to be met with at no other time of day, though the 
electric light may perhaps be an effective substitute. 

Ordinary epithets and comments seem too feeble for the 
beautiful objects that meet the eye at this point : let just one 
or two notes suffice, culled from the notebook of that great pa- 
tron of art who, in satisfying his own artistic longings by the 
acquisition of these things, provided at the same time a source 
of pleasure for others, more lasting than brass : 

'"The Wounded Venus' 
was made by Pietro Tenerani, 
a pupil of Thorwaldsen. 

"The Pedestal of Kessel's 
' Discobolus ' contains a tour de 
force of the Swedish porphyry 
cutters, to show how minutely 
they could work these hard 
materials. Campbell took four- 
teen years to complete the 
statue of the Princess Pauline 
Borghese; she sat repeatedly to 
him for the bust, and gave him 
six casts of her hand, foot, and 
nose. . . . Inserted in the pedestal of this are twenty-six 
medallions, cast of the iron ore of Elba by the order of Na- 
poleon during his residence there ; they accompanied him to 




LADY ELIZABETH FOSTER 




CARVED CHIMNEY-PIECE, STATE DINING-ROOM, CHATSWORTH 




247 




249 



250 



dbatewortb 



St. Helena, and were left by him to his sister, who bequeathed 

them to me. 

" Canova kept the large bust of Napoleon in his bedroom 

till his dying day ; he finished it from the study of the colossal 

statue now in the pos- 
session of the Duke of 
Wellington. 1 know no 
other authentic bust of 
Napoleon by Canova. 

"The Lions give 
but a faint idea of the 
astonishing nature and 
effect of Canova's by 
the tomb of Clement 
XIV., in St. Peter's: the 
sleeping one is by Ri- 
naldi, the other by 
Francesca Benaglia. 

"Schadow's 'Fila- 
trice ' . . . was often 
repeated; the untouched 
surface of the column on 
which it is placed came 
from Trajan's Forum. 
" 'Madame Mere,' 

first acquired treasure, next to ' Endymion ' the most valued ; 

Canova made no repetition of it. . . . Lord H found the 

single word (on the pedestal), that expresses so much, in the 

Iliad — dvffapiffro'Heia, ' unfortuuate mother of the greatest of 

men.' 

''Thorwaldsen's 'Venus' . . . arrived broken in three 

pieces ; a bracelet, hiding the fracture in the arm, is one that 




RENDING THE TOMB' 




PORTRAIT OF FIRST DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE 



251 



Cbatswortb 253 

the Princess Pauline procured when she went into mourn- 
ing on the death of Napoleon, and she gave it to me for this 
object. 

"The rocchio of pale verde antico was found by Elizabeth, 
Duchess of Devonshire, in her excavations that brought to light 
the pedestal and history of the column of Phocas and the sur- 
rounding pavement in the Roman Forum. She allowed herself 
to ask for this. 

" ' Endymion ' was finished by Canova. The quality of the 
marble was so fine, so hard, so crystalline, that Canova would 
not change it on account of the stain in the arm ; that on the 
cheek he liked, and thought it represented the sunburnt hunt- 
er's hue. 

" 'The wounded Achilles' is by Albacini ; the granite tazza 
was made at Berlin from a pebble from the sands of Brandenburg." 

Thence through the orangery out into the open ; and having 
gained an offmg towards the French garden, it is well to look 
back and observe what an excellent finish the "temple attic" 
makes to the wing we have just left, and how the swifts, 
dashing in and out between the Corinthian columns, keenly 
appreciate a situation just suited to their nestling requirements. 
Their screams are full of hilarity, and it is so fitting that they 
should enjoy themselves and show the poetry of motion just 
here ; for beneath the open colonnade is the ball-room — that 
splendid room with stage, gallery, etc., all complete, but with 
its provoking inaccessibility to the house. It was the intention 
at one time to make a covered way from the orangery, or near 
there^ right up to the stables, and that is almost an accom- 
plished fact ; but it does not seem to have occurred to make 
direct communication between the main block and the ball-room 
at the level of the sculpture gallery roof, though it should not be 
very hard to effect this. 



254 



Cbatswortb 



Very cool and refreshing looks the Temple Cascade, if you 
are lucky enough to find it in action ; if not, then you pass 
on to the Weeping Willow, and that surprisingly natural rock- 
work which Sir 
Joseph Paxton in- 
troduced as one of 
his bold features 
in landscape gar- 
dening. He had 
"boundless en- 
thusiasm for the 
beautiful and mar- 
vellous in nature, 
controlled by a 
judgment faultless 
in execution, and a 
taste as refined as 
it was enterpris- 
He came to Chatsworth in 1826 ; in 1829, took the man- 
agement of the woods ; in 1832, started the arboretum ; in 1836, 
invented and began the large conservatory, and finished it in 
1840. It had already, at the latter date, become occupied, 
Baron Ludwig having stripped his garden at the Cape of the 
rarest produce of Africa. 

Presently, winding down and round, you come to the great 
fountain in the pond opposite the south front. A fountain is a 
fountain, says the cynic, and not much enthusiasm is to be felt 
about water coming out of a pipe ; which depends much upon 
the size of the pipe and the velocity of the outflow. If it is good 
to behold anything the best of its kind — like the Times among 
the world's newspapers, or the last new cutter among the massed 
yachts at Cowes, or some splendid creature, magnificently 




LORD PEMBROKE AND SISTER 
AFTER VAN DYOK 



ing 



256 



Cbatswortb 



apparelled, among a throng of ordinary mortals, — then it is an 
impressive thing to stand near the great fountain and behold a 

column two hundred 
and sixty feet high issu- 
ing from a sixteen-inch 
pipe at a hundred miles 
an hour, with the impe- 
tus of a four-hundred- 
feet fall from the lake 
above. 

A difficult subject to 
handle photographically, 
for want of contrast be- 
tween cloud and col- 
umn ; if everything were 
favourable, the moment 
for exposure would be 
when the spherical 
spurts of imprisoned 
water shoot out from 
the summit and come tumbling down like the finale of a 
rocket, to disperse in clouds of spray. 

This fountain, by the way, though the connection seems 
remote, reminds one of those twelve great oak butts down in 
the cellar presented to the first Duke by William III. But the 
connection is this. The beer used to be brewed above the 
stables, and was conveyed to the cellars by a pipe underground, 
a thousand and fifty-nine feet long, of three-inch bore ; and the 
idea presented itself, not unnaturally, to make, on some great 
occasion, a fountain of the beverage. That could obviously have 
been done, at no great cost and with hardly any waste of beer ; 
but supposing the fountain were shown off in late summer, it 




WELLINGTON ROCK 




257 



258 Cbatswortb 

may be imagined that the wasps and flies would have had such 
a good, or bad, time, as to impart a somewhat acrid flavour 
to the brew. 

That noble line of limes, feathering to the ground, and known 
by the name of Dr. Johnson's Walk since that sage sat under 
their shade in 1784, terminates at the point where you descend 
to the Royal trees ; an oak planted by H.R.H. Princess Victoria, 
1832 ; a Spanish chestnut planted by H.R.H. Duchess of Kent, 
1832 ; a sycamore planted by H.R.H. Prince Albert, 1843. Thence 
it is but a few steps back to the entrance gates. And when one 
sees the array of cabs, waggonettes and char-d-bancs, with a 
coach or two thrown in, drawn up outside, you begin to realise 
of what very great benefit such a show-place must be to the 
district, and to wonder whether that advantage is adequately 
appreciated. But the muster of such equipages at ordinary times 
is as nothing to what occurs on a Bank Holiday. Then the 
excursionists range from four to five thousand ; light pens or 
folds being arranged at the gates to break up the multitude into 
fifties, to be admitted in sequence every few minutes and taken 
round the rooms, strictly on the block system. And, what is 
more, all comers are admitted, even children of sizes and infants 
of days — a veritable exuberance of even ducal good-nature and 
philanthropy. Possibly, when some fractious child has tum- 
bled down and cracked its crown, or an article of even more 
value than that; or when some mother with a baby in arms 
has signally come to grief on one of those slippery, polished 
floors, the porter may find his duties suddenly augmented by 
all children, too young to appreciate Chatsworth's glories, 
being required to be left in his careful charge, along with the 
sticks and umbrellas, while their natural custodians perambu- 
late within. 

Be that as it may, if you would perambulate without, there 




259 



26o Cbats worth 

is that stiff but pretty walk up to the Hunting Tower, where 
the view repays the climb, provided the atmosphere is not too 
thick with Sheffield smoke, or what not ; or if you stroll across 
to Edensor, of uncertain pronunciation, you will surely seek out 
and reverently look upon that simple, turf-clad mound, where a 
plain headstone carries the sufficient words — Frederick Charles 
Cavendish, May 6, 1882 ; and then perhaps you will proceed by 
the kitchen gardens to Baslow ; or you may make a point of 
seeing Haddon, which is not far off. 

A delightful tramp, if permission were granted, would be 
past Paxton's great glass house, by way of the arboretum, up 
into the old park. In the arboretum certain black wooden labels, 
stuck in the grass in front of the trees, once moved a lady of 
tender sympathies, who wished to say just the right thing, to 
exclaim to her companion and host, ''Ah! que c'est touchant ! 
Ce sont, sans doute, les tombeaux des plantes ! " But where 
they remain, such labels have use even beyond that of identifica- 
tion of species, as, for example, some idea of the age of these 
stately cedars can be gained from the fact of one of them, just 
above the Saracenic summer-house — by no means the largest, and 
apparently not yet at maturity — being labelled 1676: doubtless 
the date of its planting. How well those silver firs, which might 
be more numerous, stand out amid the lighter foliage of mag- 
nificent Spanish chestnuts, beeches, elms, and larches, rivalling 
one another in straightness of stem as in symmetry of spread ! — 
and how plainly the ubiquitous rhododendrons sometimes attest 
the biting bitterness of a May or June frost by their long black- 
ened shoots of new wood ! The higher one gets in this en- 
chanting ramble, the less become the variety and size of the 
trees, until, up by "the Duke's seat," the ridge is decked with 
little save oaks. But picturesque specimens some are, growing 
into and out from the joints in the sandstone, and clasping the 



Cbatswortb 



261 



protruding rocks with all manner of strange device to secure a 
foothold or push a way for expansion ! 

But where are the birds ! Are such woodlands only for 
pheasants and a few woodcocks ? Doubtless, when the leaves 
are off, as they come rocketing down over the slope, the longtails 
acquit themselves admirably, and the longbills tax the skill of the 
guns posted to stop them ; but this happens to be summer-time. 




WEST FRONT OF CHATSWORTH 



and where are those brown owls, jays, hobbies, woodpeckers, 
and nightjars, which should delight in all this thick leafage, oaken 
glade, and wilderness of bracken ? Well in keeping would it be 
with a palace where all classes of people are welcome, and the 
gilded gates are shut to none, if all birds were granted like free- 
dom to the woods, and no class distinction recognised among 
them ; if it were a standing decree that, out of the shooting 
season, every bird should be held harmless and sacred, save 
only that dashing corsair, the sparrowhawk, and that ignoble 
thief, the crow. 



%^mc 



263 






Wm^' 



jutu: ' ' 'J 



i|Si~i«— StSHI : 






ir" ■aarfiirr"*^ 




I'll-- 1**^ - --'^'' ■ •* 



NORTH FRONT OF LYME 



LYME 



BY THE DOWAGER LADY NEWTON 



THIS old home of the Leghs of Lyme is situated in the 
county of Cheshire, and stands upon a spur of land 
eight hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea, 
almost in the middle of the park, which is large and undulating, 
about nine miles in circumference. This park, which is really 
the beginning of the Peak range, Derbyshire, although nomi- 
nally in Cheshire, has always preserved its bold and romantic 
character, and was long celebrated for the herd of wild cattle 
which were indigenous to the place, like those of Chillingham, 
of which they were the exact counterpart, being white, with 
large spreading horns, and red inside the ears. When the pres- 
ent owner was a boy he remembers a herd of from thirty to 

265 



266 %^mc 

forty, and when he succeeded his uncle in 1857 there were still 
about fifteen or sixteen ; but from having been allowed to breed 
in-and-in, and from other causes, they were very much deterio- 
rated, and in spite of all the efforts made to restore them to 
their ancient form they gradually became extinct, and for several 
years there have been none in the park. There is, however, 
a fine herd of red deer, as well as fallow. The former have al- 
ways been famous for their size and wild nature. Many anec- 
dotes are told of them, which have been handed down to the 
present time ; and that they were renowned in the sixteenth 
century is shown by the following curious extract from the 
journal of Wilson, the historian, relative to what happened to 
himself when attending the Earl of Essex in a visit to Sir Peter 
Legh at Lyme, in the county of Cheshire, 1590. It is tran- 
scribed from its original authority. Peck's Desid. Car., lib. xii. 
10, edit. 1732, 

"Sir Peter Lee of Lime, Co. Cheshire, invited my Lord one 
summer to hunt the stagg. And having a great stagg in chase, 
and many gentlemen in the pursuite the stagg took soyle ; and 
divers (whereof I was one) alighted and stood with swords 
drawn to have a cut at him at his coming out of the water. 
The staggs there being wonderful fierce and dangerous made 
us youthes more eager to be at him. And it was my misfortune 
to be hindered of my coming near him, the way being sliperie 
by a fall, which gave occasion to some one who did not know 
me, to speake as if 1 had fallen for feare. Which being told 
me, I left the stagg, and followed the gentleman who had first 
spake it. But 1 found him of that cold temper, that it seems 
his words made an escape from him as by his denial and re- 
pentance it appeared. But this made me more violent in pur- 
suit of the stagg to recover my reputation. And 1 happened 
to be the only horseman in when the dogs sat him up at baye, 




267 



268 %^mc 

and approaching near him on horseback, he broke through the 
dogs and run at me, and tore my horse's side with his horns 
close by my thigh. Then I quitted my horse and grew more 
cunning, for the dogs had set him up again, stealing behind 
him with my sword, and cut his hamstrings, and then got 
upon his back and cut his throat ; which, as I was doing, the 
company came in and blamed my rashness for running such a 
hazard." This anecdote is quoted by Sir Walter Scott in his 
notes to the Lady of the Lake, canto first, note iii. 

On the west side is a terrace, from which the ground falls 
about forty feet, forming a picturesque Italian garden having a 
fountain in the centre. 

The architecture of this ancient house is of several different 
dates, which, though in one sense adding to its interest, as show- 
ing the tastes as well as the alterations made by successive mem- 
bers of the Legh family, is in another sense unfortunate, as it 
makes it very difficult, in the absence of documentary evidence, 
to determine by whom, or exactly at what time, it was first be- 
gun. It is thought that the north front (which is the principal 
entrance) was, if not built, at any rate designed, by John of 
Padua, who is known to have visited England by desire of Henry 
VIII., and to have furnished designs for some country houses, 
among them, perhaps, Longleat, to which Lyme bears a certain 
resemblance. A view is given showing the north facade, of 
which the centre portion remains intact, with the exception of 
the windows. These, like those of the rest of the house 
(originally mullioned), were altered when Leoni, the architect 
of Chatsworth (who died in 1746), Italianised the whole 
exterior. 

There is an old bas-relief in coloured plaster in one of the 
rooms, called the Stag Parlour, in which these mullioned win- 
dows are clearly shown. 



m 




»e!r?r.T- -s^«5r"*-'"»*-5«ii?>-t 



THE SOUTH FRONT OF LYME 



269 



2 70 Xpme 

The house is built of a very hard stone from quarries in the 
park, and is of an oblong form, standing as near as possible north, 
south, east, and west, with a courtyard in the centre, which is 
paved with red and white marble. It was originally much larger, 
but Leoni added a covered gallery reaching to the second floor 
only. This forms a corridor giving access to the rooms on the 
first floor, which before opened one into the other only, and af- 
fording protection to those on the ground floor. The lower 
portion of the gallery (with unglazed arches), and the whole of 
the lower part of the exterior of the house, is of rusticated stone, 
after the manner of the Strozzi at Florence and other Italian 
palaces. 

The south front, the great feature of which is a fine portico 
projecting ten feet, reaching to the top of the house, is purely 
Italian in design. The roof of this portico rests on six columns 
of stone springing from a balcony on the first floor surrounded by 
a massive stone balustrade, while its lower part is supported by 
arches of rusticated stone. 

The house is ornamented by old leaden figures, which were 
often employed by Leoni to decorate his work, but which are 
now seldom to be met with, as in the early part of this century 
many were taken down and melted into bullets, when the fear of 
an invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte filled men's minds. There 
are three rather over life-size on this south front ; the centre one, 
on the point of the pediment, represents Neptune with his tri- 
dent, and on either side are Venus with her cestus floating in the 
air and Pan with his pipes. The founding of lead garden statues 
seems to have been a special industry in the eighteenth century ; 
and the original figure-yard for this kind of statue stood in Picca- 
dilly (now 102), and was kept by John van Nort, who came to 
England with William III. Besides this yard there were others — 
viz., Dickinson's, Manning's, and Carpenter's — in high vogue 



i 




271 



2 72 Xi?me 

about 1740. There has been no leaden figure manufactory since 
1787, when one Cheere died. Another reason why so few are 
now to be seen is because many of the leaden figures in this 
country were exported to America during the American War of 
Independence, to become bullets, because the lead escaped the 
Customs as "works of art." 

A further addition was made about 18 18 by Wyatt, who built 
the Dining-room, on the east side of the house. On this side 
there are two more of the leaden figures — Diana with arrow and 
bow, her stag by her side, and Act^eon with his dog. From the 
good taste and excellent workmanship displayed in Wyatf s work 
at Lyme, it is thought that he must have been the J. Wyatt after- 
wards knighted by George IV., and made Sir Jeffrey Wyattville in 
1828, the "ville" being added to distinguish him from the J. 
Wyatt who is proverbially said to have spoilt more country 
houses than any architect in England, and is better known as 
"The execrable James." 

A square tower, containing bedrooms, was also built by 
Wyatt, and replaced an ancient lantern of stone, which was 
built up after its removal on some rising ground where fir trees 
were planted, and which is called "The Lantern Wood." This 
lantern figures in the bas-relief of the house already alluded to 
as being over the chimneypiece of the Stag Parlour. 

A double flight of steps, in a purely Italian style, leads from 
the east end of the courtyard into the Entrance Hall, a large and 
lofty square room with pillars and high dado of oak. Above the 
dado hang family portraits and ancient armour. In this hall are 
two full-length portraits of the Black Prince and Edward III., at 
opposite ends. The portrait of the Black Prince is made to open 
outward at pleasure, and discloses the drawing-room, which pro- 
duces a curious and picturesque effect. The illustrations which fol- 
low show the opening from the Hall and from the Drawing-room. 



X^me 



273 



The portraits of the Black Prince and of Edward III. are 
specially interesting to the Legh family, because the former gave 
a grant of forty marks a - 




year to Sir Perkyn Legh 
after the battle of Crecy, 
to continue until he 
should provide him with 
an estate. The estate 
was given by his son, 
Richard II., about fifty 
years afterwards, and is 
a slice of the royal forest 
of Macclesfield. Lyme is 
the old English word for 
border, the estate being 
on the borders of Derby- 
shire, Lancashire, and 
Cheshire. 

Richard II. appears 
to have had more fol- 
lowers and adherents in 
Cheshire than in any other part of England, and was evidently 
on terms of great friendship with Sir Perkyn Legh, of Lyme. 
The following extracts from the Kenilworth Manuscripts are 
given in the ArchcBologia, or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to 
Antiquity, and in the publications of the Cheetham Society : 

"Cheshire abounded with bold and rapacious maintainers, 
many of whom were among the celebrated bowmen of the King's 
Guard. The men of this county were preferred for their known at- 
tachment to him. They made their appearance in London at that 
time (1397), and that it produced a strong impression is evident 
from the way in which they are spoken of by the early writers. 



THE LANTERN" 



2 74 %^mc 

"Like all his other favourites, they obtained a complete 
ascendency over him, and indulged in great freedom of speech 
towards him, a specimen of which the ' Chronicle of Kenil- 
worth' gives in the original dialect. 

"In tantum familiaritatem domino regi annectebantur, ut 
idem in materna lingua audacter confabularentur : ' Dycon, slep 
sicury quile we wake, and dread nougt quile we lyve seftow ; 
ffor zif thow haddest weddet Perky n, daughter of Lye, thow 
mun halde alone day with any man in Chesterschire in ffaith ! ' 
This provincial discourse being turned into pure modern Eng- 
lish may stand thus : ' Richard, sleep soundly while we watch, 
and fear nothing while we lie beside thee ; for if thou hadst 
married the daughter of Perkyn of Lye ' (Sir Piers Legh of Lyme, 
near Macclesfield, beheaded by the Duke of Lancaster), 'thou 
mightest have kept Hallowtide with any man in Cheshire. 

" Keep Hallowtide, /. e. Be as good and substantial a man 
as any in Cheshire. 

"The head of poor Sir Perkyn (commonly called Perkyn a 
Legh) was ordered by Henry IV. to be set upon one of the 
loftiest towers of Chester." 

The Drawing-room is on the first floor, and is an Eliza- 
bethan room with a bay window to the east filled with painted 
glass, very old and fine in colour, and interesting. Much of it 
consists of the arms of the Earl of Chester; other parts contain 
the names and arms of the different estates acquired at various 
times by the Leghs, some of which have unfortunately departed 
from the family. There is also a symbolical series of paintings 
of the months of the year, and one or two are portraits of the 
members of the family. There are three other windows look- 
ing to the north, also containing good old painted glass. This 
room is panelled to within four feet of the ceiling with oak 
inlaid with satin-wood. There is a frieze in plaster, of a very 




THE DRAWINQ-ROOM, LYME, 
SHOWING THE CHIMNEYPIECE BEARING THE ARMS OF QUEEN ELIZABETH 



275 



276 X^me 

elaborate pattern, running round the top, divided into panels, 
each one being of a different design. The ceiling is of plaster 
strap-work, with bosses and pendants. The chimneypiece is 
of stone and plaster, and reaches from the floor to the ceiling. 
It is coloured, and is of very elaborate design, having the arms 
of Queen Elizabeth (the dragon instead of the unicorn, as used 
before the Union) in the centre, supported by caryatides of a 
quaint form. The fireplace itself is a large open one, and con- 
tains a very beautiful grate — a basket — of cut steel, with fire- 
irons and fender to match. The doors and window-shutters 
are of delicate workmanship in inlaid oak. 

On the south side is the curious opening spoken of before. 
A part of the panelling opens at the back of the portrait of the 
Black Prince, and discloses a recess from which the Hall can 
be seen below when the picture is drawn back on the other 
side. No one would know of its existence unless they were 
told ; and this curious feature was noticed and made use of by 
Sir Walter Scott when he wrote IVoodstock. He visited Lyme 
on his way to the Peak before writing Peveril of the Peak. 

The portraits in this room — one Kitcat, and the two of 
Lord Derby and his wife (Charlotte de la Tremouille, celebrated 
for her defence of Lathom House, 1651), are replicas of those at 
Knowsley, except that they are not full-lengths. There are also 
portraits of Prince Rupert, Sir Steynsham, and Lady Master 
(Elizabeth Legh), Lady Arderne (Margaret Legh), Bertram Ash- 
burnham, and a portrait said by some to be Nell Gwynne, but 
traditionally a Miss Legh. In this room is an old settle, several 
interesting chairs of the period of Elizabeth, and a settee (cov- 
ered with old embroidery) for two people, identical with one at 
Ham (Lord Dysart's place near Richmond). There is also in 
this room a curious red lacquer clock with brass mounts, of very 
early English workmanship, which plays a tune every three 




THE DRAWING-ROOM, WITH THE PICTURE-PANEL OPEN SHOWING THE ENTRANCE HALL 

277 




n 



%^mc 



279 



hours. The different barrels of tunes are in a very massive old 
box, and are not conspicuous for the beauty of the airs. They 
date from the time of the Stuarts, and as the names may be in- 
teresting to connoisseurs of old music, they are given: ''Gigue 
Lelebolu,"^ "Joy to Great Caesar," ''The Eunuch's Song," 
"Trumpet Tune and Trumpet March," " Gavot Nameless" 
(spelt Gaut), "The Grenadiers' March." 

Here are also some curious specimens of old Jacobite wine- 
glasses, of those known as "fiat glasses." No doubt there was 
once a large number ; 
but now, alas ! only 
six remain to testify 
to the loyalty of the 
family. They are of 
a very graceful shape, 
and have the white 
rose engraved on one 
side and the word 
"Fiat" on the other, 
which by a liberal in- 
terpretation may be 
taken to mean, "Let 
it be." When it was 
forbidden to drink 
Charles Edward's 
health in public, 
these glasses were 
manufactured for the 
Jacobites, and the 
toast was drunk in silence. On the foot of one of these 
glasses the Prince of Wales's feathers are engraved. There are 

' This air " Lilibulero " is well known in the north of Ireland as " Protestant Boys." — Ed. 




THE HALL, WITH PICTURE-PANEL OPEN 



28o %^mc 

likewise several of the old heel-tap glasses with toasts en- 
graved round the rim, and the finger glasses to correspond 
with them, on which toasts are also engraved. Some of these 
are political, some refer to the family, but the greater number 
are sporting. One is decidedly amusing, having on it "Mrs. 
Legh's Delight." Let us hope she took her pleasures with mod- 
eration ! Some of the toasts are given, and one or two may 
perhaps be explained by my readers. They have always hitherto 
baffled the intelligence of the family. One is " Daming and 
Sinking," the other " Maria and the Otters' Potter." The politics 
of the Leghs may be inferred from " May Aristocracy rise on the 
ashes of Democracy," "The Standing Forces of Britain," and 
" Blood over the Face of the Earth" (a fine jingo sentiment !) ; 
while "Long Life to the House of Lime," "A Cellar well filled 
and a House full of Friends," " Long Life and Long Corks," "A 
Flatt Decanter and a Sprightly Landlord," " Any Toast but a Dry 
One," show at any rate a cheerful hospitality and an appreciation 
of the good things of life ! The sporting ones comprise all kinds, 
from "The Stagg Well Rouzed," "Bull Baiting," "Bear Bait- 
ing," "Falconry," "The Vermin Blood," down to "The Merry 
Harriers." 

In connection with the Drawing-room may also be mentioned 
some fine silver guipure lace, still fresh and well preserved, which 
was found by the writer, about twenty-five years ago, in an old 
chest, bordering two coverlets of rose-coloured satin, both very 
yellow and discoloured by age. These coverlets were of oblong 
shape, one much smaller than the other, and the lace was about 
ten inches wide on the larger one and eight inches on the other. 
It appears it was the custom to use them on the bed of the 
mother and the cradle of the child when caudle-cup was given to 
the friends and gossips in the bed-chamber, after an interesting 
event ; and no doubt these coverlets had assisted at many a 




THE STAG PARLOUR, LYME, SO-CALLED FROM THE BAS-RELIEF RUNNING AROUND 
THE TOP REPRESENTING VARIOUS SCENES OF THE CHASE 



281 



X^mc 283 

cheerful scene, and adorned the beds of many grandmothers and 
great-grandmothers of the Legh family. This lace was made in 
the reign of Elizabeth, who got Flemish lace-workers over to 
teach the art of both thread, and gold and silver, lace-making. 
There is also some lace of gold and silver mixed, but it is in a 
dilapidated condition. 

In the bay window of this room are six curious little oval 
pictures very well painted on panel, unframed, and fastened to 
the oak panelling. They represent the heads of Charles I., 
Charles II., James I., Anne of Denmark, William 111., and Queen 
Anne. 

The Stag Parlour communicates with the Drawing-room, and 
is so called from an ancient coloured bas-relief in plaster running 
round the top of the room representing the hunting of the stag, 
from finding him in his lair down to his death, and even his pre- 
paration for the pot ! There is an oak chimneypiece, in the 
centre panel of which is the bas-relief of the house already 
mentioned, just as it was before Leoni altered it. There are stags 
and horsemen represented here also, which are slightly comic, as 
the stags are about the same size as the house. The portraits in 
this room are, a life-size one of Charles I., seated, and wearing a 
large hat and the order of the Garter ; Henrietta Maria, Charles 
II., and Charles Edward. In this Stag Parlour some relics are 
preserved. A pair of embroidered gloves belonging to Charles I., 
also a dagger of his with ''Carolus" on it, an old miniature in 
oils of Sir Peter Legh, an Agnus Dei in coloured wax, in a needle- 
work frame worked by Mary, Queen of Scots, and presented by 
her when she stayed at Lyme. When she was a captive at 
Fotheringay, she went to Buxton for her health and from there 
paid a visit of some duration to Lyme. There is also a farthing 
of the first copper coinage (which was in the reign of Charles 
II.), and which was found quite lately in the chapel of the house. 



284 X^me 

when a part of the flooring was taken up. It is marked ''Caro- 
lus a Carolo." There are six chairs in the room made by 
Chippendale, and covered with old needlework which once 
formed the cloak of Charles 1., and the shape of which may 
be plainly seen. The monogram of the King, C. R. crossed 
(Carolus Rex), forms the back, and they are very good speci- 
mens of Chippendale work, and were no doubt thought a much 
greater ornament than the cloak of the poor king which was 
cut up to cover them. 

On the other side of the Drawing-room are three rooms filled 
with tapestry, and which are known as the Yellow State-rooms. 
The middle one has a bed thirteen feet high,^ in which James II. 
slept when he visited Lyme as Duke of York. Over the fireplace 
in this room is a good portrait by Jansen of the second wife of 
Sir Peter Legh, nee Dorothy Egerton of Ridley, and widow of Sir 
Richard Brereton. 

Another room (the most delightful in the house) is called the 
Saloon. It was built by Leoni, faces due south, and opens on the 
beautiful Portico. The walls are entirely panelled with oak, hav- 
ing very delicate and beautifully arranged carving by Grinling 
Gibbons. There are six large and two small panels. The six 
large contain emblematic carvings of the Four Seasons, and of 
Music and Painting. Of the two small ones, one has the ram s 
head with an olive branch in its mouth rising from a ducal coro- 
net (the crest of the Leghs) ; the other has a group of flowers. 
This room has a very fine ceiling of Italian design in white and 
gold, and has four shields at the four corners, with the hand and 
banner and seven stars (argent on a sable field), a shield of 
pretence given to the Leghs after the battle of Agincourt. The 
carvings are in pear-wood on a background of oak. This is 

' High as this bed is, it is considerably second in altitude to one at Belton House, which is eighteen 
feet.— £<:;. 




THE LONQ GALLERY, LYME, SHOWING CHIMNEYPIECE WITH THE ARMS 
OF QUEEN ELIZABETH 



285 



286 X^me 

the only house, it is said, in England in which the carvings of 
Grinling Gibbons are treated as large trophies in the centre, oc- 
cupying the entire panel. In all other instances his work forms 
borders and festoons only. There are Louis XV. mirrors and 
consoles of fine workmanship, and buhl cabinets, furniture of 
old Florentine mosaic, and many interesting drawings and other 
works of art in this room, which the writer uses as her own 
sitting-room. 

The Long Gallery (which is generally a feature of an Eliza- 
bethan house) is on the second floor, and is approached by a 
broad oak staircase leading from the Library. This gallery is 
one hundred and twenty feet long and eighteen feet wide, and 
has a bay window at each end looking east. It is panelled 
from fioor to ceiling, and there is a fine oak chimneypiece at 
the south end. From these windows both south and east there 
are views of the terraced garden, and the park beyond, which 
rises to thirteen hundred feet above the sea, and is of a very 
moorland character. In the middle of the Long Gallery on its 
east side is a large stone-and-plaster mantelpiece, very like the 
one in the Drawing-room, and reaching to the ceiling. It is 
painted, and has the arms of Queen Elizabeth in the centre. 
The north windows at the farther end look on the entrance 
gates, from which there is a widely extended view of the Vale 
of Cheshire, as the ground slopes from the house to the north- 
west. On some rising ground to the right may also be seen a 
tower of stone (not the original one) built as this was by Leoni, 
known as ''Lyme Cage," and which may be seen from almost 
every part of the county, and is marked in all the oldest maps. 
Why it was so named is not known, but it is thought that 
perhaps, as Lyme was part of a Royal Forest, this may have 
been a place of detention for deer stealers till they could be 
sent to Chester to be tried. 



X^me 



287 



Parallel with the Long Gallery are bedrooms, in two of 
which are old plaster-and-stone chimneypieces built into the 
wall and each filled with coats-of-arms. One of these bed- 
rooms, which used to 



be called the "Ghost 
Room," has a large 
cupboard with a trap- 
door which on being 
lifted shows a stair- 
case leading to a 
room below between 
the floors called "a 
Priest's Hole," in 
which the priest was 
hidden in persecuting 
days. In this was 
found long ago a 
skeleton, which has 
given the name of 
"Ghost Room." 

There is another 
room on the ground 
floor panelled nearly 
to the ceiling, called 
the Stone Parlour, and 
this has for its chim- 




A CORNER OF THE SALOON 



neypiece almost the finest one in the house. It reaches to 
the ceiling also, is of stone-and-plaster, coloured, and has the 
arms and quarterings of the Molyneux family. 

On the first floor is the Library, which contains for the 
greater part books of but little interest to the ordinary reader, 
but curious, and no doubt valuable, to the connoisseur of old 



288 



%^me 




GLOVES OF KING CHARLES I. 



and apparently musty volumes. A Caxton of very early date 
has been lately discovered here. 

There is a great deal of panelling in the house, and tw^o 
rooms are rather interesting, as they are panelled from floor to 

ceiling with Span- 
ish mahogany. 
There are many 
interesting family 
and historical por- 
traits, amongst 
them a full-length 
picture of an old 
keeper, with the 
following inscrip- 
tion : 

"Joseph Watson, who in the 26th year of his age Anno 
Domini 1674 commenced keeper of Lime Park, in whose service 
he continued 70 years, and a. d. 1750, in the 102nd year of his 
age, he hunted a buck a chase near six hours long, at which 
one Gentleman was present whose ancestors he had hunted 
with for 4 generations before, he being the 5th generation he 
had hunted with." 

With him is associated this story, which is told in the words 
of the chronicler : 

"In the reign of Queen Anne, Squire Legh was at Maccles- 
field with a company of gentlemen among whom was Sir Roger 
Mason, then one of the members for the County of Cheshire. 
They being merry and free. Squire Legh said his keeper should 
drive 12 brace of stags to Windsor as a present to the Queen. 
Sir Roger opposed this with a wager of 500 guineas that 
neither his keeper nor any other person could drive 12 brace 
of stags to Windsor on any occasion. Squire Legh accepted 



J 




289 



290 



Xpme 



the wager from Sir Roger, and immediately sent a messenger 
for his keeper, who directly came to his master, who told him 
he must immediately prepare himself to drive 12 brace of stags 
to Windsor Forest for a wager of soo guineas. So he gave his 
master this answer, that he would at his command drive him 
12 brace of stags to Windsor, or any other part of the kingdom 
by his worship's directions, or he would lose his life and for- 
tune. He accordingly undertook and accomplished this most 




A LYME MASTIFF 
AFTER THE PAINTING BY J. T. NETTLE8HIP 



astounding performance, which is in the annals of history. This 
keeper (Joseph Watson) was a man of low stature, not bulky, 
of a fresh and pleasant countenance, and he believed he had 
drunk a gallon of malt liquour one day with another for about 
60 years of his time ; and at the latter end of his life he still 
drank plentifully, which was agreeable to his constitution and 
agreeable to himself. He was allowed by all who knew him 
to be as fine a keeper as any in England." 

As this Joseph Watson lived to the age of 104, and hunted 
and killed a buck in his 103d year, we must conclude that the 



X^me 



291 



blue ribbon is not the only passport to longevity. He is buried 
in Disley churchyard, with a long epitaph on his tombstone. 

There is an old en- 
graving called ''A View 
of Lyme Park, with that 
extraordinary custom of 
driving the Stags, the 
property of Peter Legh, 
Esq., 1745." The picture 
shows the stags swim- 
ming through a pond ; 
some already through 
are fighting with their 
front feet (the horns be- 
ing still in velvet), while 
ladies (in hoops) on their 
horses and gentlemen in 
court dress are looking 
on. The pond was al- 
ways known as the 
"Stag Pond," and was only done away with in 1863, when 
Lord Newton built new stables near it. 

There is a fine picture painted for Lord Newton by Mr. Net- 
tleship of a Lyme mastiff, a breed peculiar to the place. In 
Stow's Annals is to be found a reference to them which shows 
that they were then sufficiently highly prized to be considered 
worthy of forming part of a royal gift sent by James !., in 1604, to 
Philip 111. of Spain. The incident related by Stow is as follows 
(with spelling modernised) : 

"On the 28th March, 1604, Charles, Earl of Nottingham, 
Lord High Admiral of England, being accompanied and attended 
with one Earl, three Barons, 30 Knights, etc., etc. . . ." 




IN THE COURT 



292 X^me 

(Here follows a long and particular account of the embassy, 
which consisted of six hundred persons besides horses and 
coaches, and of their reception in the various towns until the 
month of May, when they reached Valladolid, where the Court 
was ; and then the chronicler proceeds.) 

" At the delivery of the presents by Thomas Knoll Esq., the 
King and Queen came in person to view and receive them with a 
very kind and princely acceptation. The presents were 6 stately 
horses with saddles and saddlecloths very richly and curiously 
embroidered, that is to say, 3 for the King and 3 for the 
Queen ; 2 Crossbows with sheaves of arrows, 4 fowling pieces 
with their furniture very richly garnished and inlaid with plates 
of gold, and a couple of Lyme hounds of singular qualities. 

" These were all the presents." 

Here may also be mentioned some early Greek sculptures 
brought back from Greece by the late Mr. Legh (the uncle and 
predecessor of Lord Newton), and some ancient bronzes of Greek 
and Etruscan workmanship in the Library. There is also in the 
Bright Gallery a bas-relief of the Phygalion marbles in plaster, 
which was given to Mr. Legh by the British Museum as a mark 
of gratitude for the help he gave the authorities in discovering 
and bringing them to England. The original bas-relief is in the 
British Museum. 

This imperfect history of an ancient house shows how much 
remains to be known and appreciated in the ancestral homes of 
England, and may perhaps induce others to look more closely 
into their own dwellings, and so make discoveries not only in- 
teresting to themselves but perhaps important to the world at 
large. There is an old story, in a book known but little now, 
called Eyes or No Eyes, where the same walk taken by two 
boys resulted in the return of the one with his pockets full of 
treasures, and of the other bored and fatigued by having seen 



X^me 293 

nothing to amuse or interest him. If the readers of this article 
imitate the boy with eyes and look at the relics of the past 
around them, they will find a new charm in their lives, perhaps a 
treasure hitherto undreamt of in their family records, and most 
certainly an interest which will go on increasing with every fresh 
research. 



Ipensburst anb its flDemones 



295 



^^^^■-" 




PENSHURST FROM THE GARDENS 



PENSHURST AND ITS MEMORIES 



BY LADY DE L'ISLE AND DUDLEY 



PENSHURST ! How many ancient memories are called 
forth by the name ! What visions are conjured up, 
what fascinating dreams of brave men and fair women, 
of noble dames and mail-clad warriors, of courtiers, poets, 
statesmen, heroes ! 

As we gaze up at the old grey walls, or wander in the 
yew-hedged gardens, we can almost fancy we see them passing 
before us in a long and brilliant pageant. If only those walls 
could speak and tell us something of the lives they have wit- 
nessed, of the generations past and gone — of how they lived 
and laughed, worked and played, loved and wept ! The se- 
crets of that great past hold for us a strange fascination. But 
the walls only look down gravely upon us, just as they did 
well-nigh five centuries ago ; and so we turn from them and 
their silence to hunt for such information as we can find in 
the comparatively few records which are left to us. 



297 



298 



Ipensburst ant) Its flDemoriee 



A considerable portion of Penshurst, as it now stands, was 
built towards the end of the fourteenth century by Sir John de 
Poulteney. He had married the heiress of the De Penchesters, 
who for two hundred years had occupied a fortified house on 
this site. \n 1341, he received from the Crown permission to 
"crenellate" — /. e., embattle ; and thus we have in Penshurst 
"a nearly perfect example of the house of a wealthy gentleman 
in the time of Edward III." The chief feature of the house is 
the great hall, sixty-four feet in height, which remains unaltered 
to this day. The hearth in the centre is piled with huge logs 
for burning. On either side run the long tables, and the "high 
table " stands on a dais at the upper end. Facing this is the 
minstrels' gallery, supported by a smoke-blackened oaken screen, 
a portion of which is as old as the hall itself. 

The hall is so little changed that we are enabled, as we 
pass through it and wend our way up the stone staircase to 
the '-' solar " or principal chamber (now called the ball-room), 
to realise almost exactly what life must have been like in those 
far-off days.^ Many were the festivities held there, and frequent 
visitors came and went. It has often been conjectured that 
among these were Edward the Black Prince and his wife Joan, 
the Fair Maid of Kent. 

Sir John Poulteney dying without male heirs, Penshurst 
passed to Sir John Devereux, Constable of Dover and Warden 
of the Cinque Ports, who began adding a long wing to the 
house in the time of Richard II. (afterwards finished by the Duke 
of Buckingham). After changing hands frequently, and being 
successively owned by John, Duke of Bedford, and Humphrey- 
Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, and his successors, Penshurst 



' It would seem that the central hearth must have involved a hole in the roof, for exit of the smoke. 
But though there was some sort of contrivance in this direction which had to he taken down in 1840, 
that was apparently not earlier than 1700, and those best qualified to judge maintain that there never 
was any hole originally. — Ed. 




THE GREAT HALL, PENSHURST, SHOWING ANCIENT CENTRAL HEARTH 



299 




301 



302 ipensburst ant) its HDemories 

reverted to the Crown in the reign of Henry VIII. on the at- 
tainder of Edward, Duke of Buckingham. It came into the pos- 
session of the present owner's family in 1552, when Edward 
VI. bestowed "the manor, park, and palace" (now shortened 
into "place") of Penshurst, "with the adjoining lands, mead- 
ows and pastures, woods and trees, on his well-beloved knight 
Sir William Sidney, in reward of services done to him in his 
father's lifetime." The services of which he speaks were ren- 
dered to Edward VI. from babyhood by the whole family. 
Sir William himself had been appointed by Henry VIII. to be 
chamberlain and tutor to his young son ; Lady Sidney was his 
governess, and a sister his nurse, while their son Henry was 
his constant companion and valued friend. When, on July 7, 
1553, the young king's short life was ended at Greenwich, he 
died in Henry Sidney's arms. 

Sir Henry's wife was Lady Mary Dudley, eldest daughter 
of John, Earl of Warwick and Viscount Lisle, afterwards Duke 
of Northumberland. Later on, at the death of her brother Rob- 
ert, Earl of Leicester (Queen Elizabeth's favourite), Lady Mary 
became the only representative of the Dudleys, and in her were 
united the houses of Berkeley, Beauchamp, De I'lsle, Grey and 
Talbot. It was she who brought the bear and ragged staff into 
the family arms, and through her came the patronage of Lord 
Leicester's Hospital at Warwick. 

On his father's death Sir Henry became owner of Pens- 
hurst, and retired there with his young wife, thus escaping, 
fortunately for his own head, all suspicion of conspiracy in her 
father-in-law's plot for placing Lady Jane Grey on the throne. 
Many of Lady Mary's relations had to pay the penalty on 
Tower Hill, and her second brother, John, Earl of Warwick, 
after being released from the Tower, returned to his sister's 
home at Penshurst, only to die there in a few weeks. 




303 



304 



pensbnrst ant) its fiDemories 



It was during this sad and anxious time that a son was 
born to them at Penshurst, and christened Philip, after Queen 
Mary's consort . Philip Sidney was to become celebrated 
through all ages as the type of a perfect knight and gentleman. 



1 




1 








III 




H| 


^^H^HHsBIIIIBBHBjK'^^wr '^^H^H^I^^^B^^^II^^l 


1 


BH^HB 






SIR PHILIP SIDNEY 

AFTER ZUCCHERO 



Penshurst was his cradle, and it was here that he spent his 
early childhood, roaming the woods and pleasant glades in 
company with his little sister Mary. There can be no doubt 
that it was the fair scenery of his Kentish home which im- 
pressed his poetical mind and inspired him later on to write 
the Arcadia. 




A CORNER IN THE CHINA CLOSET, PENSHURST 



305 



peneburst anb its fIDemorles 



307 



In 1558, Sir Henry was appointed by Queen Elizabeth to be 
Lord President of the Marches in Wales, and later to be Deputy 
of Ireland. But though he laboured long and faithfully in her 
service, he was ill 
rewarded and badly 
paid. The saying, 
"Out of sight, out of 
mind," seems to have 
been peculiarly ap- 
plicable to this fickle 
sovereign, who was 
apt to forget those 
at a distance giving 
their best years to her 
service, and listened 
too readily to evil 
tongues. In 1574, 
his appointment of 
Deputy was taken 
from him. By this 
time he was broken 
in health and fortune, 
and Lady Mary had 
never recovered her 




OLD CLOCK IN DINING-ROOM 



strength after an at- - 
tack of small-pox, 
caught while nursing the Queen through this deadly disease. By 
way of compensation for her treatment, Elizabeth offered them 
a peerage, which, however, they were too poor to accept, as 
we find from a letter written by Lady Mary Sidney at this 
time, entreating that "such a calamity might be averted from 
them in their ruinated state 1 " 



3o8 ipeneburst anb its fIDemones 

During this period of darkness and difficulty their son 
Philip must have been a great comfort to them. He had just 
returned from travelling abroad, and on his appearing at Court 
he was beloved by all who came in contact with him, and 
grew in high favour with the Queen, who subsequently spoke 
of him as "the brightest jewel of her crown." But no better 
testimony can be found as to his goodness in private and do- 
mestic life than that contained in a letter from Sir Henry Sidney 
to his second son "Robin." "Imitate his virtues, studies, 
exercises and actions. He is the rare ornament of this age. 
. . . He hath the most rare virtues that ever I found in 
any man." 

The history of the hero of Zutphen has often been written, 
and is too well known to need more than a passing word. 
It is a curious fact that early in life he held Church prefer- 
ment, for among the papers at Penshurst we find the follow- 
ing documents : 

" (1564) 6 Eliz. May 7. Original Institution by the Bishop of 
St. Asaph, under his seal, of Philip Sydney, Scholar, to the 
church of Whyteford." 

"(1564) June 4. Copy of Indenture between Thomas, 
Bishop of St. Asaph, and Philip Sydney, clerk, son of Sir 
Henrie Sydney, Kt., and William Mostyn, of Mostyn (as 
surety)." 

Philip was then ten years old. At the age of eighteen he 
was sent to Paris in the train of the English Ambassador, where 
he was made a Baron of France by Charles IX. Thence he 
passed on to Frankfort, where he made the acquaintance of 
Hubert Languet, with whom he formed the lifelong friendship 
which greatly influenced his subsequent career. From there he 
went to Vienna and to Venice, returning to England in is 7s, after 
three years of foreign travel. It was while on a- visit, with the 





LADY DOROTHY SIDNEY 

' SACHARISSA." AFTER VAN DYCK 



309 



o 



lo ipensburst an^ its flDemones 



X 



Queen, to Lord Essex at Chartley Castle that Philip first saw and 
loved the beautiful Penelope Devereux, and it is to his romantic 
passion for her that we owe the sonnets of "Astrophel and 
Stella." On her marriage with another and a richer suitor, Sid- 
ney retired to Wilton, the home of his sister Mary, Countess of 
Pembroke ; there he wrote the Arcadia, and, together with his 
sister, translated the Psalms into English rhyme. In 1583, he was 
knighted by the Queen, and in the same year married Frances, 
daughter of his father's old friend Sir Francis Walsingham, by 
whom he left an only child, Elizabeth, afterwards Countess of 
Rutland. At his death, at the battle of Zutphen, in is86, Pens- 
hurst (which he had inherited a few months before) passed to his 
brother Robert — the "Robin" of his early letters — created Vis- 
count Lisle, Baron Sidney of Penshurst, and (in 16 18) Earl of 
Leicester. Robert married a Welsh heiress — Barbara Gamage — 
whose portrait, surrounded by six of her children in the quaint 
dress of the period, is at Penshurst. One of her sons was made 
a Knight of the Bath by Charles, Prince of Wales, and was after- 
wards the second Earl of Leicester. Clarendon tells us that "he 
was a man of great parts, very conversant in books, and much 
addicted to the mathematics." In 1632, he went as Ambassador 
to Denmark, and four years later filled the same high office at the 
Court of France. He married Lady Dorothy Percy, daughter of 
the Earl of Northumberland, the lady whose excellent house- 
wifery Ben Jonson praises during an unexpected visit which 
James 1., paid to Penshurst while hunting in the neighbour- 
hood. Their eldest daughter, Dorothy, so celebrated for her 
beauty and goodness, was born at Sion House in 16 17. This 
fair lady is perhaps better known as the " Sacharissa " of 
Waller's verse. To her he addressed many of his finest poems, 
one of the best examples of which we quote ; it is entitled 
"The Banished Self." 



I 





OLD SPINET AT PENSHURST 




311 



312 pensburet an^ its flDemories 

" It is not that I love you less 
Than when before your feet 1 lay; 
But to prevent the sad increase 
Of hopeless love, I keep away. 

" In vain, alas, for everything 
Which I have known belong to you 
Your form does to my fancy bring 
And makes my old wounds bleed anew. 

" But vow'd I have, and never must 
Your banisht servant trouble you ; 
For if I break, you may mistrust 
The vow I made to love you too." 

The best-known of all these poems is the exquisite and oft-sung 
" Go, Lovely Rose." But the poet's plaintive verse had no effect 
upon the hard heart of my Lady Dorothy, who was wooed by 
many suitors in vain. However, she was won at length by 
Henry, Lord Spencer, afterwards Earl of Sunderland. There is a 
charming portrait of her at Penshurst, painted probably before her 
marriage, which took place at Penshurst in 1639. There still 
exists a very witty letter, written, on the occasion of her mar- 
riage, by Dorothy's old admirer. Waller, to her sister, Lady 
Lucy Sidney. 

Lady Sunderland's happy married life lasted but four years, 
for in 1643 Sunderland fell at the battle of Newbury, and the same 
day perished two spirits as brave as himself— Carnarvon and Falk- 
land. The young widow left to mourn his loss was well nigh 
broken-hearted, as we can tell from the tender letters of consola- 
tion written to her by her father at this sad time. 

She retired with her three children to Afthorp, and after nine 
years of widowhood contracted a second alliance with Sir Robert 
Smythe, of Boundes Park, in the neighbourhood of Penshurst, 



^ 





THE BALL ROOM, PENSHURST 



313 



314 Ipensburet anb its flDemoriee 

whom she survived several years. She lived on to charm all 
who approached her by her cleverness and brilliant wit, but more 
than all by her kindly and ever-ready sympathy. Lady Sunder- 
land died at the age of sixty-seven, and lies buried at Brington, 
in Northamptonshire, the burial-place of the Spencers. 

There are two pictures at Penshurst which attract special 
attention — one of a sweet-faced girl leading a spaniel, the other 
of a handsome lad in armour : they are the Princess Elizabeth and 
the Duke of Gloucester, children of Charles !., who were entrusted 
to Lord Leicester by order of the Parliament. It is interesting to 
know that they remained at Penshurst for more than a year, and 
were only removed to Carisbrook Castle because it was thought 
they were treated with too much respect and attention. 

Of Dorothy's second brother Algernon, the patriot, there are 
four portraits. In one, by Dobson, we see him a grave-looking 
boy, painted with his brothers, Philip, Lord Lisle, and Robert. 
Another shows him later on in life, and was painted for his father 
while in exile at Brussels. In it he is resting his arm on a vol- 
ume, on which we can trace the word Libertas, while in the 
background is a view of Tower Hill, put in after his execution. 
Early in life he joined the Parliamentary forces, and was wounded 
at the battle of Marston Moor. But he opposed the policy of 
Cromwell, and fought only for "liberty." At the Restoration, 
after the execution on Tower Hill of his friend and comrade Sir 
Harry Vane, he renounced the joys of home and country, and 
became a wanderer on the face of the earth. How much he 
loved that home, and how he yearned for it when in exile, we 
know from his letters to Lady Sunderland, in one of which he 
"longs only for a few months' quiet at Penshurst." But at the 
same time he preferred to stand firmly by the principles which 
guided his life, and from which he never for one moment 
swerved, it will, probably, always be a matter of opinion 




THE VESTIBULE, PENSHURST 



315 



3i6 pensburet anb its flDemoriee 

whether Algernon Sidney was merely obstinate in error or con- 
sistently honourable in precept, but there can be no doubt as to 
his wonderful courage, resolution and high principle. 

A man with his opinions, and possessing the full courage of 
them, was considered in those days far too dangerous a subject, 
and so he suffered seventeen weary years of banishment from all 
he held most dear. It was only on the serious illness of his 
father in 1667 that an assurance of safety was granted him 
through his nephew, Lord Sunderland ; and he returned home to 
Penshurst just in time to bid the old Earl a last farewell. 

For some time he remained in the seclusion of his boyhood's 
home ; but a life of inaction was not for him, and he was per- 
suaded by his old friend Penn to stand for Parliament. He stood 
first for Guilford and afterwards for the Rape of Bramber, but in 
both cases means were taken to prevent his election. This so 
much disgusted Sidney and Penn that, giving up all hope of 
furthering the good of their own country, they turned their 
thoughts to the New World across the sea, and began to make 
plans for what could be done there. So the two friends set 
about drawing up a system of administration at Worminghurst, 
Penn's place in Sussex. This was revised by Sidney at Pens- 
hurst. Thus we see that Pennsylvania owes something to Pens- 
hurst ! In 1652, when Penn set sail in the Welcome, he and 
Algernon parted never to meet again. 

The following year a conspiracy to murder the King, called 
the Rye House Plot, was discovered, and Algernon Sidney was 
arrested. He was given no opportunity to defend himself during 
his trial by Judge Jeffreys, and was thrown into prison, where he 
languished for many months. On a cold December morning in 
1683 this great man's life was brought to an end on Tower Hill. 

" Are you ready, sir ? " cried the headsman. "Will you rise 
again ? " 






31" 



3i8 



peneburst ant) its flDemoriee 



"Not till the general resurrection. Strike on," was the 
reply. 

Another brother of Lady Dorothy's, of whom there are sev- 
eral portraits, is Henry Sidney the youngest. His good looks 
and charming manners were such that De Grammont tells us he 
went by the name of le beau Sidney. He was many years 
younger than his brothers and sisters, being born the same year 
as Lady Sunderland's own eldest son. He was vain and pleas- 
ure-loving. His sister Dorothy, however, was warmly attached 
to him, and indeed he seems to have been a favourite with al- 
most everyone. Though he was once banished from Court 
for his intrigue with the Duchess of York, he again found favour 
with Charles II., who made him minister in Holland, and Wil- 
liam 111. afterwards created him Earl of Romney. We find him 
at the coronation of King James II., in attendance on the King as 
Master of the Robes. The crown being somewhat too large for 
him, Mr. Sidney put forth his hands to support it, pleasantly re- 
marking to the King, as he did so, "This is not the first time 
our family have supported the crown ! " It is recorded that 
Henry, Earl of Romney, died of small-pox at his house in St. 
James's Square, now called York House. He died unmarried, 
and left his large fortune to his great-nephew John, who .in his 
turn became the sixth Earl of Leicester, and a man of some note 
in his day. He was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and was 
created a Knight of the Bath in 1725. He was succeeded by his 
brother Jocelin, seventh and last of the Sidneys, Earls of Leices- 
ter, who died in 1742, leaving no son to succeed him. Pens- 
hurst passed to the daughter of his elder brother, in the hands 
of whose descendants it still remains. 

In addition to the portraits already mentioned there are 
many more of interest, and whichever way we turn we meet 
the gaze of departed Sidneys. First comes Sir William, who 





THE PANEL ROOM, SHOWING ALGERNON SIDNEY'S BOOTS 



319 







SWORD OF ROBERT DUDLEY, EARL OF LEICESTER 




321 




pensburst ant) its fIDemories 



323 



commanded the right wing of the army at Flodden Field, and 
to whom Penshurst was granted by Edward VI. Next we see 
Sir Henry and his wife, Lady Mary Dudley. Sir Philip appears 
as a boy of fourteen with his brother Robert, afterwards Earl of 
Leicester. These are in Queen Elizabeth's room, which is full 
of interesting relics of that period. We have here the card-table 
said to have been worked with her own hands, and the tapestry 




DIANA'S BATH " 



on the walls placed there by Sir Henry Sidney on the occasion 
of one of her visits to Penshurst. In this room also stands an 
ebony cabinet of seventeenth-century work, ornamented with 
oil paintings by eminent Dutch masters, and two landscapes by 
Berghem — a present from James 1. to the second Lord Leicester 
— and a beautiful set of carved ivory and ebony furniture of 
the same date. 

Leading from Queen Elizabeth's room is the tapestry room, 
where hang the crystal chandeliers given by Elizabeth to her 



324 peneburet anb its fiDemories 

favourite, Leicester ; also some fifteenth-century tapestry, a 
curious specimen of Spanish work. Here, too, are a carved 
ebony cabinet with silver mounts, supposed to have belonged 
to Cardinal Wolsey, and a fine equestrian portrait of Charles 1. 
by old Stone. We next pass into the china closet, containing 
a collection of Oriental china. 

In the picture gallery beyond is a portrait of Queen Eliza- 
beth by Zucchero, in all the glory of lace and ruffles, and holding 
a jewelled fan — a recent bequest from Lady Strangford. Then 
there are pictures of Sir Philip, of his sister Mary, Countess of 
Pembroke, and of Languet, his friend and tutor ; and here are 
preserved a pair of jack boots, once the property of Algernon 
Sidney. Turning back, we come through the ball-room, where 
hang the portraits of many generations of Sidneys, In this 
room is a bushel measure of the time of Queen Elizabeth, bear- 
ing the date of 1601, and a table of Henry Vlll.'s time. 

Below, in the entrance corridor, are the remains of a valu- 
able collection of armour, consisting of several complete suits 
of different periods. Besides these there are some muskets, 
dated 1591, probably the first made and used in England, 
Among other curiosities are a tilting helmet belonging to Sir 
William Sidney, bearing the original crest of the porcupine, and 
a two handed sword belonging to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leices- 
ter, which is mentioned in the inventory of his "wardroppe 
stuffe, hanginges and other furniture," made, in 1583, at Kenil- 
worth, and carefully preserved at Penshurst. 

In this part of the house are a number of pictures by old 
Dutch and Italian masters ; and in a frame in the drawing-room 
is a collection of locks of hair belonging to Sir Philip and Al- 
gernon Sidney and other members of the family. There, too, 
we see an inlaid writing-table, which is said to have once been 
the property of the peerless "Sacharissa" herself 



v- '^■• 




SUNDIAL IN THE GARDEN, PENSHURST 



325 



326 



pensburst ant) its flDemoiiee 



Out of doors we are again reminded of this fair lady as we 
walk in the park under an avenue of noble limes, still called 
'' Sacharissa's walk." She herself must often have passed by 
the Sidney oak, planted to commemorate the birth of her famous 
kinsman, and celebrated in Ben Jonson's verse as 

" That taller tree, which of a nut was set 
At his great birth, where all the Muses met." 

The gardens, with their well-trimmed yew hedges and 
grass-grown walks, are entirely in keeping with the character 
of the house. ^ And when the apple trees are in bloom, and 
the limes bursting into leaf, there is no fairer spot in all the 
Kentish land than the ancient home of the Sidneys. 

' It may be added, as showing how much admirable landscape gardening can be accomplished in a 
comparatively short time, that the beautiful grounds have been practically created since iSso. Any 
gardens there might have been had ceased to be, through a period of absolute neglect. The yew hedges 
and " Diana's Bath," that look so venerable and courtier-esque to the visitor to-day, did not exist at the 
date mentioned. — Ed. 




IN THE GARDENS 



MarwicI? Castle 



\ 



327 



i 




WARWICK CASTLE 



WARWICK CASTLE 



BY THE COUNTESS OF WARWICK 



THE character of ancient buildings, the various styles of 
architecture which they present to us, their beauties as 
well as their blemishes, enable any one whose darkness 
may be lightened by the diviner radiance of a happy power of 
imagination to recall the persons and the events with which 
these buildings have been associated. The gloomy feudal for- 
tress carries the mind back to the Middle Ages ; the abbey, 
with its cloisters and windows and all the surroundings of a 
dim religious light, reminds us of days when the Head of the 
Church was indeed Christ's Vicar here upon earth ; while the 
palace suggests, side by side with its stories of games played 
at that great game in which men are but as pawns, pictures of 



329 



330 TMarwick Caetle 

gallant gentlemen and fair ladies who, though being dead, yet 
live before us. England is not so rich in these varied combina- 
tions of palace, abbey, and tower as is France, for instance, 
and particularly Touraine. Many of our most famous medieval 
castles have been suffered to fall into decay, or, worse still, 
have been improved into modern shape by the rash hand of 
idle innovators. 

There is one among our castles, however, which neither 
Time's defacing fingers nor man's innovating hand has de- 
spoiled — Warwick Castle. 

Possibly there is no place of this sort so well known the 
whole English world over, situated, as it is, within that Shakes- 
peare country from which proceeded those melodious sounds 
which yet fill the world. It has always been the Mecca of the 
best and noblest of literary pilgrims from America. Nearly half 
a century ago Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote for an American 
magazine a series of sketches, in one of which, entitled ''About 
Warwick," he tells us how "through the vista of willows that 
droop on either side into the water we behold the grey mag- 
nificence of Warwick Castle uplifting itself among stately trees 
and rearing its turrets high above their loftiest branche-s. We 
can scarcely think the scene real, so completely do its machi- 
colated towers, the long line of battlements, the massive but- 
tresses, the high-windowed walls, shape out our indistinct ideas 
of the antique time." 

Forty years ago one who has been well described as the 
master of American prose wrote : 

"Warwick Castle! England, and all who speak its lan- 
guage, owe the successive inheritors of this great living pile of 
buildings more than they have ever acknowledged. It did not 
put on the armour of nature to help out its own. It did 
not take advantage of perpendicular rocks on river sides, like 





TKnarwicft Castle 



33^ 




Stirling, or Edinburgh, or Chepstow. Now, in these sunny 
days of peace, with its venerable mane of cedar trees, it looks 
like a grand old lion 
lying down, with its 
paw tenderly placed 
over a tired lamb. 
Inside out, from end 
to end, it is the har- 
monious growth of 
many ages, and 
registers each age in 
distinctive illus- 
trations. It shows 
what can be done by 
a dozen generations 
of wealthy men, in- 
heriting an estate to 
which every man's laudable ambition is to add something to 
what his forefathers set there. All who have possessed the 
title added each to what he found, both to building and its 
adormnent." 

After all, a castle, even so famous a one as Warwick, is not 
so interesting in itself as the scenes which it has witnessed and 
the people who have lived in it or visited it. The history of 
Warwick Castle, for the last three hundred and fifty years at 
least, has been no small part of the history of England. Per- 
sonal and local history in England does not so much begin with 
the Reformation as it does in other countries ; but this one thing 
is certain, that between the pre-Reformation world and ourselves 
there is a great gulf fixed which the historian has tried in vain 
to bridge. Not that the place before that could have been de- 
void of interest : no castle in the stormy times of the Wars of 



GUY'S TOWER 



332 TKHarwich Castle 

the Roses could have enjoyed the happiness of having no his- 
tory ; and surely, if any did, Warwick was not one of them. 
Its very position, situated in the heart of England, must, from 
the time when the Great Alfred's daughter built the keep 
("the monument of the wisdom and energy of the mighty 
Ethelfleda "), have been such that, in all the numerous brawls 
and butcheries dignified by the name of civil war, the posses- 
sion of it must have been a matter of supreme importance. 
And so it was nearly four centuries before the outbreak of the 
Wars of the Roses that William the Conqueror had made War- 
wick the base of his operations for his campaign in the North. 
The fortress he built there has gone — not one stone left upon 
another, and so utterly perished that the very site of it is 
pure guess-work. 

The legendary Guy and all his feats may be dismissed from 
any account which makes any pretence to be historical. There is 
a curious account of the garrison of Warwick Castle in the time 
of Henry 11., when all his legitimate sons were in arms against 
him, and the two illegitimate sons of Fair Rosamond alone re- 
mained faithful. It was occupied for the King ; and the sheriff's 
account rendered for the victualling of the place was this : "xi. 
It. xiii. s. iiii. d. for 20 quarters of Bread Corn ; xx. s. for 20 quar- 
ters of Malt ; c. s. for 50 Biefs salted up ; xxx. s. for 90 cheeses ; 
and XX. 5. for salt then laid in for the victualling thereof." 

Of the importance of Warwick Castle in the Middle Ages we 
can well form an idea from Dugdale's statement : 

" Of what great regard it was in those times may be dis- 
cerned by the King's precept to the Archbishop of York, for re- 
quiring good security of Margery, sister and heir to Thomas, then 
Earl of Warwick, that she should not take to husband any per- 
son whatsoever in whom the said King could not repose trust as 
in his own self: the chief reason being given in these words, 





333 



334 Maiwick Castle 

' Because she has a Castle of immense strength, and situated 
towards the Marches.'" 

No mention of Warwick Castle would be complete if it left 
out the famous Earl — "the King-Maker" and the "Last of the 
Barons." Never was the " Bear and Ragged Staff" held in such 
high esteem as between 1455 and 1470. And when, a few years 
after the King-Maker's death, the avaricious Henry VII. annexed 
his various manors to the Crown, he got possession of over a 
hundred of them, to say nothing of the whole of the Channel 
Islands. A contemporary tells us that "at the Earl's house in 
London six oxen were usually eaten at breakfast, and every 
tavern was full of his meat, for he that had any acquaintance in 
his family should have as much sodden — i.e. boiled — as he could 
carry on a long dagger." 

The Castle had remained for a very considerable period in 
the possession of the successive earls. It next passed to the ill- 
starred George, Duke of Clarence, and upon his death, "being 
seized into the King's hands, it continued in the Crown a great 
while." 

When the fam.ous John Dudley became Earl of Warwick, 
the Castle was granted to him, as well as divers lands which had 
belonged to former earls. Of his fate in connection with the 
unhappy Lady Jane Grey there is no need to speak here. The 
Castle and all his estates, upon his attainder, escheated to the 
Crown. Thanks to the favour with which Robert Dudley, better 
known as the Earl of Leicester, was regarded by Queen Elizabeth, 
his brother Ambrose received from that Queen a grant of War- 
wick Castle, together with the dignities of Earl of Warwick and 
Baron de I'lsle, in 1561. Three years later his brother Robert 
became Earl of Leicester. 

There were other subjects beside Lord Burghley who groaned 
inwardly under "the extraordinary chardg in Enterteynment of 






MarwicI? Castle 



335 



the Queen." Elizabeth had more than the ordinary passion of 
the time for "rich shews, pleasant devices and all manner 
of sports that could be devised." Notwithstanding the extent 
of her various pro- 
gresses east and west 
and north and south, 
there seemed to be 
always something 
freshly arranged for 
her entertainment. 
In 1572, on her way 
to Kenilworth, she 
stayed at Warwick, 
and visited the Earl 
of Warwick at the 
Castle she had grant- 
ed him eleven years 
before. She came to 
Warwick "on the 

12th day of August, after dinner, about three of the clock, with 
the Countess in the same coach." The Recorder, who appears 
to have been elected that very day, delivered an oration of por- 
tentous length even for those times, and the scene that followed 
is best described in the Black Book, as it is called, belonging to 
the Corporation of Warwick : 

"This Oracion ended, Robart Philippes, Bailiff, rising out of 
the place where he knelid, approached near to the coche or chari- 
ott wherein her Majestie satt, and coming to the side thereof, 
kneeling doune, offered unto her Majestie a purse very fair 
wrought, and in the purse twenty pounds all in sovereigns, 
which her Majestie putting forth her hand received, showing 
withall a very benign and gracious countenance, and, smyling, 




THE GATEWAY 



)36 



TKHarwick Castle 



said to the Erie of Leycester, ' My Lord, this is contrary to your 
promise.'" 

Her Majesty made the usual gracious reply, "and there- 
withal offered her hand to the Bailiff to kiss, who kissed it, and 
then she delivered to him again his mace, which she kept in her 
lappe all the tyme of the Oracion. And after the mace delivered, 
she called Mr. Aglionby (the newly elected Recorder) to her, 
and offered her hand to him to kiss, withall smyling, said, ' Come 
hither, little Recorder. It was told me that youe would be afraid 
to look upon me or to speak boldly, but youe were not so 'fraid 
of me as 1 was of youe ; and 1 now thank you for puttyng me in 
mynd of my duety, and that should be in me.'" 

Mr. Griffin, the preacher, approached with a view to present- 
ing a paper, — it turned out to be a Latin acrostic advising the 
Queen to marry. She, evidently not without some suspicion, 
said to him : "If it be any matter to be answered, we will look 
upon it and give you answer at my Lord of Warwick's house," 
and so was desirous to be going — as indeed she well might be 
after the "little" Recorder's "long Oracion." So they went to 
the Castle, the Bailiff, the Recorder, and principal burgesses, with 
their attendants riding two and two together before the Queen, 
and thus were they marshalled by the heralds and gentlemen 
ushers : 

" First, the Attendants or Assistants to the Bailief to the 
nomber of thirty, two and two together in coats of puke (a sort 
of grey) laid on with lace : then the Twelve principal burgesses, 
in gownes of puke, lyned with satten and damask upon foot 
clothes : then two Bishoppes : then the Lords of the Counsail : 
then next before the Queene's Majestic was placed the Bailief in 
a gowne of scarlet, on the right hand of the Lord Compton who 
then was High Shiref of this shire, who therefore would have 
carried up his rod into the Toune : which was forbidden him by 





THE GREAT HALL, WARWICK CASTLE 



337 




MarvpicF? Castle 339 

the Heralds and Gentlemen Ushers, who therefore had placed the 
Bailief on the right hand with his mace." 

Questions of precedence were then more frequently to be 
settled than now. All seems to have been arranged amicably. 
Arriving at the Castle gate, the burgesses and the attendants 
formed a lane through which the Queen passed, accompanied by 
the Bailiff, "still carrieng his mace." That Monday night and 
Tuesday she stayed at the Castle, but on Wednesday was off— 
" leaving her household and trayne still at Warwick " — to Kenil- 
worth and Lord Leicester. With him she stayed, and on Satur- 
day night, "very late," returned to Warwick. The Puritans 
were not yet very troublesome ; indeed, they never were very 
troublesome to her. One is therefore not surprised to hear that 
on the Sunday afternoon "the country people, resorting to see 
her, daunced in the Court of the Castell : which thing, as it 
pleased well the country people, so it seemed her Majesty was 
much delighted." It was the Sunday next before St. Bartholo- 
mew's Day. 

In the time of Elizabeth, even as in our days, entertainments 
ended with a display of fireworks ; and on that Sunday evening 
August 18, 1572, the last day of her visit to Warwick Castle, 
supper being over, " a showe of fireworks," prepared for that pur- 
pose in the Temple fields, " was sett abroche." It represented a 
mimic siege, in which "the Erie of Oxford and his soldiers to the 
number of two hundred, with qualivers and harquebuyces gave 
dyvers assaults, they in the fort shooting again and casting out 
divers fyers terrible to those that had not been in like experiences, 
valiant to such as delighted therein, and indeed straunge to them 
that understood it not." 

Exhibitions of fireworks in those days seemed more dan- 
gerous than they are now. The display at the Castle, " in 
which the Queen's Majesty took great pleasure," seems to 



340 Marwick Caatle 

have gone on regardless of the " comfate or safety of the 
ToLine," and this mimic siege seems to have been a very for- 
midable affair. 

" A ball of fyre fell on a house at the end of the bridge, and 
set fyre on the same house, the man and wief being both in bed 
and asleep, which burned so as before any reskue could be, the 
house and all things in it utterly perished, with much ado to save 
the man and woman." 

Other houses caught fire, but were saved through the efforts 
of the Earl of Oxford, Sir Fulke Greville (father then, though 
he did not know it, of the future Lord of Warwick Castle), and 
other " Gentlemen and Tounesmen." If all shows of fireworks 
were like this at Warwick Castle they must have been a fear- 
ful joy to the neighbours. 

''No marvaile it was so little harme was done, for the fire 
balls and squibbes cast upp did so flye quite over the Castell 
and into the myddle of the Toune, to the great perill or else 
great feare of the inhabitants of this Borough, and so as, by 
what means is not yet known, foure houses in the Toune 
were on fire at once, whereof one had a ball come through 
both sides and made a hole as big as a man's head, and " 
(naively adds the MS.) "did no more harm." 

It would seem that the inhabitants of the Borough may not 
have been sorry to get free from "the fire balls and squibbes 
cast upp " for the Queen's delight. Any way, on the Monday 
"her Majesty taking that pleasure in the sport she had at Ken- 
ilworth would thither again." One likes to know that she sent 
for the old couple who had been burnt out of house and home, 
and by "her Grace's bounty there was given towards their 
losses that had been hurt, ^25. 12. 8." (equal in value to over 
/200 of our money). And so ended her first and last visit to 
Warwick Castle. 



MarwicF? Caetle 



3^1 



This Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, who had enter- 
tained Elizabeth with the fireworks in 1572, had been struck 
with a poisoned bullet at the siege of Havre, and was always 
after more or less of an invalid. Although he was married 
three times, he had had only one son, who died during his 
father's lifetime. Consequently, when the " Good Lord War- 
wick," as he was popularly known, died early in 1590, after 




A CORNER OF THE HALL 



the amputation of his leg, the Castle and almost all his prop- 
erty reverted to the Crown, with which it rested until the 
second year of James 1. 

The connection of the present Earls of Warwick (the Gre- 
villes) with Warwick Castle begins with the year 1605, when 
James granted Sir Fulke Greville the ruined Castle in fee, at 
which time, as Dugdale wrote : 

'' It was a very ruinous thing, the strongest and securest 
parts thereof being only made use of for the Common Gaol of 
the County ; but he. Sir Fulke, bestowing more than ;^2o,ooo 
cost, as I have heard, made it a place not only of great strength 



342 TKHarwicf? Castle 

but of extraordinary delight, with most pleasant gardens, walks, 
and thickets, such as this part of England can hardly parallel, 
so that now it is the most princely seat that is within these 
midland parts of the Realm." 

The Grevilles had long been settled at Milcote in Warwick- 
shire, but had not enjoyed more consideration than any other 
of the country gentry till a love match of a younger son of the 
Grevilles with the greatest heiress of the day raised them to 
the front rank. There is at Warwick Castle an account of this 
marriage in manuscript, written in 1644. In fhe days of King 
Henry VIII. I read of "Sir Edmund Grevil of Milcote, who had 
the wardenship of Elizabeth, one of the daughters of the Lord 
Brookes' son. The Knight made a motion to his ward to be 
married to John, his eldest son ; but she refused, saying that 
she did like better of Fulke, his second son. He told her that 
he had no estate of land to maintain her, and that he was in 
the King's service of warre beyond the seas and therefore his 
return was very doubtful. She replied and said that she had 
an estate sufficient both for him and for herself, and that she 
would pray for his safeties and wait for his coming. Upon his 
return home, for the worthy services he had performed he was, 
by King Henry, honoured with Knighthood, and then married 
Elizabeth the daughter of the Lord Brookes' son." 

It was the grandson of this noble-hearted Elizabeth (Sir 
Fulke Greville) who got from James I. Warwick Castle in 160s, 
and a peerage in 1621. This Fulke Greville, from all we know 
of his life, was just the man to expend /20,ooo (a sum equiva- 
lent to something like ^^ 160,000 now) upon restoring his ruined 
castle. Born in 1554, he entered Shrewsbury School the same 
day as Philip Sidney, with whom he formed a close friendship, 
which only ended with Zutphen. He was one of Queen Eliza- 
beth's "young men," and at once attracted her favour, and 




Marwicl^ Caetle 343 

"had the longest lease and the smoothest time without rub 
of any of her favourites" ; and such was her attachment to him 
that, although she allowed Sidney to go to the war, she refused 
Greville permission. His body was buried in St. Mary's Church, 
Warwick, and the epitaph, which he had himself composed, 
was engraved upon the monument he had erected during his 
lifetime. It runs thus : 

" FULKE GREVILLE 

Servant to Queen Elizabeth 

Counsellor to King James 

AND Friend TO Sir Philip Sidney." 

Warwick Castle and its owner, Robert, second Lord Brooke, 
were destined to play a prominent part in the approaching Civil 
War. The first ten years of his possession of the title practically 
coincided with what has been called the Stuart dynasty. By 
education and connection — his only sister was married to Sir 
Arthur Haselrigge, one of the " Five Members " — and by dispo- 
sition he was strongly attached to the popular party. Soon 
after his accession he formed, with Lord Saye and Sele, the de- 
sign of emigrating to New England, and the colony of Saye- 
brooke was founded under a commission from them. But his 
fate lay not there : he was imprisoned for refusing to subscribe 
to the protestation of fidelity to Charles on his Scottish expe- 
dition of 1639; and in May, 1640, his house was entered, his 
papers seized, and he himself again imprisoned. At the com- 
mencement of the Civil War, as Lord-Lieutenant of Militia for 
the counties of Warwick and Stafford, he garrisoned Warwick 
Castle for the Parliament, and mustered train bands and volun- 
teers. In one of the earliest skirmishes he defeated the Earl of 
Northampton at Kineton, near Banbury. The defeated Earl im- 
mediately proceeded to lay siege to Warwick Castle ; but Sir 



344 Marwick Castle 

Edward Peto, who was in command, held out till Lord Brooke 
relieved him, after a siege which had lasted three weeks. Un- 
der Essex, Warwick Castle became the centre and depot of 
military forces in the West Midlands, and Brooke was made 
commander-in-chief of the associated counties. But he did not 
hold his office long : while attacking the Close at Lichfield, he 
was struck in the eye by a bullet and killed on the spot. The 
curious in such matters observed that the day of his death 
(March 2d) was St. Chad's — St. Chad being the saint to whom 
Lichfield Cathedral is dedicated. The death of this Lord of 
Warwick Castle brought out a crop of elegies : Milton described 
him as "a right noble and pious lord"; and Harington 
praised him as a saint and a martyr in "An Elegy upon the 
Mirour of Magnanimitie." The two first — in many respects 
the two foremost — peers of the Greville line thus died ; though 
in a different way, each had a violent death. 

The second Lord Brooke died in the thirty-sixth year of 
his age, having had the satisfaction of freeing his Castle from 
the besieging Royalists. Of that siege a quaint account is 
given in a contemporary pamphlet entitled ''A Letter from a 
Gentleman of Warwick to his friend in London." The follow- 
ing are the most interesting points in it : 

"This day seavennight in the morning, my Lord of North- 
ampton came to Banbury where the Ordnance was delivered, and 
from thence with all speed they went to war to my Lord Brook's 
Castle. They were confident the Toun would be delivered up 
presently, but there they found a man of courage, that brave man 
Sir Edward Peto-Peyton, who upon the first message sent the 
Lords an absolute answer he would not deliver the Castle. They 
gave him 2 hours time and sent again. Sir Edward sent an angry 
answer that they might have taken his word at first. The Lords 
planted their ordnance against the Castle and discharged one. 





IKIlarwicFi Castle 



345 



Sir Edward in requitall discharged 2 and bid them as they liked 
that shoot again ; then Sir Edward made proclamation that all 
his friends should 
depart the toun, and 
for the rest bid them 
look to themselves. 
He hung out of the 
Castle a bloody flag 
and a flag with a 
cross upon it in defi- 
ance of the Papists, 
and now shoots night 
and day with double 
mus-kets that kill 
20 score. He shot 
through the house 
where the Lord 
Compton lay, which 
made him remove his ^'^''^^ 
lodging. The Lord 
Compton being planting ordnance upon the Tower of the 
Church, Sir Edward discharged an ordnance from the Castle 
v/hich took off a pinnacle of the Tower and made the Cavaliers 
stir. Neverthelesse they discharged the ordnance, being one 
they took from Banbury, which broke all in pieces, whereupon 
they suspect all the ordnance that came from Banbury to be 
poisoned. A fellow of my Lord of North's going over the street 
with a shoulder of mutton in his hand held it up and said 
' Look here, you roundheads, you would be glad of a bit,' 
presently fell down dead, being shot from the Castle. There 
are not many yet slain : the Castle stands untouched and Sir 
Edward now hangs out his winding sheet and Bible. Our 




GUY'S PORRIDGE-POT" 



346 TimarvoicR Caetle 

Papists begin to stir, they disarm private men, and take their 
arms out of their houses. They have taken Sir Edward's 
horses out of the stable, 8 for the saddle, they kill my Lord 
Brooke's Deer. We expect my Lord S. (Say and Sele) or some 
of our Parliament men to countenance us, for we are almost 
borne down with great ones." 

Upon the death of this Lord Brooke, the Parliament, by an 
ordinance, settled the wardship of the young Lord Brooke, his 
son, upon Catherine, Lady Brooke, widow of the lord who was 
killed at Lichfield. With the battle of Edge Hill any close con- 
nection between the Civil War and Warwick Castle seems to 
have ceased. Lady Brooke doubtless remained here in retire- 
ment, looking after her five boys, three of whom ultimately suc- 
ceeded their father in the peerage. A few years after Lord 
Brooke's death, the Commons, on a message from the Lords, 
voted /5ooofor the use of his youngest son — a not inconsiderable 
portion in those days. 

The next important event for us in connection with Warwick 
Castle is a visit which John Evelyn paid, in August 1654. He 
gives his impression of it in these words : 

''We passed next through Warwick and saw the Castle, the 
dwelling-house of Lord Brooke and the furniture noble. It is 
built on an eminent rock which gives prospect into a most goodly 
green, a woody and plentifully watered country ; the river run- 
ning so delightfully under it that it may pass for one of the most 
surprising seats one should meet with. The gardens are prettily 
disposed, but might be much improved. Here they show us Sir 
Guy's great two-handed sword, staff, horse-arms, pot, and other 
relics. Hence to Sir Guy's grot, where they say he did his 
penances and died, it is a squalid den made in the rock, 
crowned yet with venerable oaks and looking on a goodly 
stream, so as were it improved as it might be it were capable of 



Umarwicfi Castle 



347 



being made a most romantic and pleasant place. Near this we 
were showed his chapel and gigantic statue hewn out of the solid 
rock, out of which there were likewise divers other caves cut." 

Evelyn, as the 
author of Silva well 
might do, did not 
think much of the 
gardens in 1654. To 
bring them to perfec- 
tion was reserved for 
that most luckless of 
the heads of the Gre- 
villes, George, the 
second Baron, who 
''planned the park by 
his taste and planted 
the trees with his 
hand." The second 

son, Robert, who became the fourth Lord Brooke, was one of 
the six lords sent by the House of Peers, together with twelve 
of the members of the House of Commons, to present to 
Charles 11. at the Hague "the humble invitation and suppli- 
cation of the Parliament ; ' That His Majesty would be pleased 
to return and take the government of the Kingdom into his 
own hands.'" He was made Recorder of Warwick, and being 
a great traveller, added much to the embellishment of the Castle. 
It was to him that the fitting up of the state apartments is due, 
and he worthily continued to follow in the footsteps of his pre- 
decessor in the title. His successors from one generation to 
another took pride above everything else in the adornment and 
beautification of their castle. In 1746, the eighth Baron was 
created Earl Brooke, and in the last year of the reign of George 




OLIVER CROMWELL'S HELMET 



348 Marwick Castle 

II. the earldom of Warwick, which had been conferred in 1618 
on the family of Rich, becoming extinct, devolved upon Lord 
Brooke. The son of this first Earl of Warwick was one of the 
most reckless of all connoisseurs, and Warwick Castle is in- 
debted to him for many valuable gems which his uncle. Sir 
William Hamilton, collected. Many of the finest specimens of 
artistic work at Warwick bear testimony to his taste, but the 
enlargement and improvement of the grounds about the Castle 
are his special work, and he expended over / 100,000 in beauti- 
fying the interior of his home. 

The entrance to the Castle consists of a plain embattled gate- 
way, leading to a picturesque winding roadway, cut, for upwards 
of a hundred yards, through the solid rock, and overhung with 
shrubs, creepers, and trees. This roadway conducts to the outer 
court, where a grand view of the outer walls suddenly bursts 
upon the visitor, the main features of which are Guy's Tower on 
the right, the Gateway in the middle, and Cesar's Tower on the 
left. 

Guy's Tower, so named in honour of the legendary warrior, 
was built by the second Thomas de Beauchamp in the reign of 
Richard II., being completed in 1394. It is twelve-sided, thirty 
feet in diameter at the base, with walls ten feet thick, and rises 
to a height of a hundred and twenty-eight feet. This tower con- 
tains five floors, each floor having a groined roof and being sub- 
divided into one large and two small rooms, the sides of which 
are pierced with numerous loopholes, commanding in various 
directions the curtains which the tower was intended to protect. 
A staircase of a hundred and thirty-three steps leads to the sum- 
mit, which is crowned by a machicolated parapet. The vault 
beneath has been constructed of great strength, apparently for 
the purpose of supporting on the roof some ponderous and 
powerful engine, calculated to annihilate anything which could 



IKIlarwicIi Castle 



349 



be brought against it. The details of the Castle can be best ob- 
served from this tower, and it commands a fine view of the sur- 
rounding countr}^, extending for many miles. The second-floor 
chamber, now used as a muniment room, was the place of con- 
finement of the Earl of Lindsey, who, with his father, was taken 
prisoner at the battle of Edge Hill. 

Caesar's Tower was erected between 1350 and 1370 by the 
first Thomas de Beauchamp, and it is a marvel of constructive 
skill. It is an irregalar polygon, a hundred and forty-seven feet 
in height, containing four stories, each with a groined roof, and 




QUEEN ELIZABETH'S VIOLIN 



is crowned by a boldly projecting machicolation. The part 
facing outwards forms three segments of a circle, the general 
construction being such as to constitute it a fortress of the 
most formidable character. It is built on the solid rock, and 
was therefore impervious to the miner. The loopholes through- 
out are most scientifically contrived, not being cut in the centre 
of the merlons in each instance, but being pierced in positions 
commanding the most advantageous situations, and being made 
available either for the long or cross bow. The lower edges of 
the loopholes are also sloped at the exact angle requisite to clear 
the gallery below. The archers were securely protected by 
wooden screens, termed mantlets, and by leather curtains, as 
well as by the roofs above them. The sloping base of the tower 
constituted another formidable medium for launching missiles 



350 Marwicft Castle 

against the enemy, being so constructed that a stone or metal 
projectile, launched from the machicolation above, would re- 
bound with a point-blank aim into the breasts of the attacking 
force beneath. 

The Gateway was constructed in the fourteenth century, 
and was in ancient times approached by a drawbridge, which 
formerly spanned the moat, but is now replaced by a stone 
arch. On the inner side of this is the Barbican, projecting some 
fifty feet from the wall, and rising two stories in height above 
the archway. It is flanked by two octagonal turrets, loop- 
holed for the purpose of defending the bridge and its ap- 
proaches. Within the drawbridge is a portcullis, and behind 
the portcullis are four holes overhead, through which blazing 
pitch, hot lead, or other scarifying compounds could be poured 
on the heads of the assailants. Beyond the portcullis again 
were the doors, and passing through the archway is a small 
court, twenty-four feet long by eleven feet wide, into which, 
if the assailants penetrated, they would fmd themselves en- 
tirely at the mercy of the defenders above. From a gallery 
over the archway, on the inner side of the barbican, and from 
the walls and towers on all sides, a murderous discharge of 
missile could be maintained, the slope of the ground upwards 
being an additional disadvantage to the assailants. At the up- 
per end of this court is the Gatehouse, with a groined arch- 
way, which was again defended by a portcullis, loopholes, and 
doors, like the barbican. It is flanked by towers, the summits 
of which are connected by a bridge, enabling the defenders to 
concentrate the largest amount of destructive power on the 
court beneath. The outer portcullis is worked by a windlass, 
which still exists in the lower chamber of the south-east turret. 

The spacious Inner Court is nearly two acres in extent. In 
front stands the Mound, or Keep, studded with trees and 



Marwicf? Caetle 



351 




QUEEN ELIZABETH'S SADDLE 



shrubs, and crossed by the fortifications, in which the Northern 
Tower forms a prominent object. On the right, connected by 
walls of enormous 
strength, are two 
incomplete towers, 
termed the Bear and 
Clarence Towers, the 
former begun by 
Richard III., and the 
latter probably by 
his brother, George, 
Duke of Clarence. 
On the left, extend- 
ing to the Hill Tow- 
er at the base of the Mound, is the inhabited part of the 
Castle, altered and enlarged at various times since it was first 
built, but with so much skill as to be in perfect keeping with 
the general aspect of the whole. 

A fortress is said to have existed here in Roman times ; 
and Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great, is stated to have 
erected a keep, or dungeon, on the Mound in the year 915. 
The Mound is, like many others in England and in other coun- 
tries, prehistoric. It represents the first idea of a fortress — a 
truncated cone. The flat top gave space to which large num- 
bers could flee for safety, while the steep sides were easily 
defended. The Saxons did not make earthworks— they built 
in stone ; and what Ethelfleda probably did was to build a keep 
on the top of the Mound, which was destroyed when the Cas- 
tle was dismantled in the eleventh century. In all probability 
the Mound was there in the time of the Romans, as some 
marble tablets now in the Castle were dug out of the foot of it 
about the end of the last century. 



352 Marwich Caetle 

The Great Hall is sixty-two feet long, thirty-five feet broad, 
and nearly forty feet high. It is lighted by three large re- 
cessed windows, and is panelled with oak to a height of nearly 
nine feet. The floor is composed of red and white marble in 
lozenge-shaped squares, brought from the neighbourhood of 
Verona, and the fine hooded mantelpiece of carved stone came 
from Rome. The length of the suite of apartments visible 
from the hall is three hundred and thirty feet, and through the 
doorway leading to the chapel a good view used to be obtained 
of the fine equestrian portrait of Charles 1., by Van Dyck (now 
in the State Dining-room), in which the King is represented in 
armour, mounted on a grey horse, and attended by his equerry, 
either the Chevalier d'Epernon or M. de St. Antoine. In the re- 
cess of the centre window is a remarkably tine cauldron of 
bell-metal, popularly, though erroneously, styled "Guy's Por- 
ridge Pot." It holds about one hundred and twenty gallons, 
and is in reality a garrison cooking pot, used for seething tlesh 
rations. It was probably originally made for Sir John Talbot of 
Swanington, who died in 1365. There is an old couplet relat- 
ing to it, quoted in Nichols's History of Leicestershire, which 
runs thus : 

" There 's nothing left of Talbot's name 
But Talbot's pot and Talbot's lane." 

It possibly came to Warwick Castle through the marriage of 
Margaret, daughter of Richard de Beauchamp, with John Talbot, 
Earl of Shrewsbury, from whom descended the Dudleys, Vis- 
counts De L'IsIe, afterwards Earls of Warwick. Notwithstand- 
ing that the existence of the ''redoubtable Guy" must be 
relegated to the region of myths, a suit of armour seems to 
have been appropriated to him at a comparatively early period, 
as, in the reign of Henry VIII., William Hoggeson, one of the 



"CXHarwicf? Caetle 



353 



yeomen of the King's buttery, was granted the custody of 
the sword, with a fee of twopence per diem. 

There is here an interesting collection of arms and ar- 
mour, including a knight in German-fluted armour, on a horse 
in English armour of 
the fifteenth century ; 
a fine tilting suit, with 
double plates ; suit of 
Robert Dudley, Earl 
of Leicester ; suit of 
Charles Graham, 
Marquis of Montrose ; 
breastplate and mori- 
on of Lord Brooke, 
killed at the siege of 
Lichfield, 1643 ; hel- 
met of a Crusader ; 
helmet of Sir Rich- 
ard Wallace ; Italian 
Damascene helmet ; 
Italian steel helmet ; 
helmet of Oliver 
Cromwell and an- 
other Puritan helmet; 
a square painted 
shield of the reign of Edward IV. ; a pair of large two-handed 
swords ; several Claymores ; a swivel arquebuse, taken from a 
French privateer off the west coast of Ireland in the last cen- 
tury. An Italian trousseau chest, and a richly carved oak 
bench, beautifully undercut, stand here. There is also a suit of 
armour with a curious shaped helmet which belonged to one 
of the Knights of Ravenna, an order of knighthood instituted 




IN THE ARMOURY 



354 Marwich Castle 

by a Pope Gregory for the suppression of piracy in the Levant ; 
and there are many more interesting pieces of armour which 
space forbids describing. 

This Great Hall witnessed, in June, 13 12, the grim and im- 
pressive trial by torchlight of Piers Gaveston, when the Earls 
of Lancaster, Gloucester, Hereford, Arundel, Warwick, and 
others imposed sentence of death on the once haughty and in- 
solent favourite of Edward 11., who cowered before them with 
vain entreaties for his life. From the centre window, the view 
looking up the river, which flows at a depth of a hundred feet 
below, is replete with charms. Immediately above are the ruins 
of the old mill, bounded on the right by the timber framework 
and the buttress wall of the wheel ; beyond which the Avon, 
gliding swiftly over the weir, churns up its pale amber waters 
into creaming eddies, which speed gaily away to yield up 
their ephemeral existence. Higher up, the old bridge, with its 
ruined arches covered with ivy and tangled plants, throws 
its shadows into the placid water, picturesquely intensified 
by a background of tall Scotch firs, ivied to their topmost 
branches. Beyond this, the noble arch of the bridge above 
serves as a framework to complete an unmistakably beautiful 
picture. 

The Red Drawing-room contains the following portraits : 
"Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, in Armour" (died 1646), by 
Rubens; ''Dutch Burgomaster," by Rembrandt; "Wife of Sny- 
ders," in close cap, ruff, and embroidered bodice, by Van Dyck ; 
"Assumption of the Virgin," by Raffael ; " Ambrogio, Marquis 
de Spinola," in half armour with ruff, by Rubens. This room 
contains some fine specimens of Buhl, and a good cabinet of 
tortoise-shell and ebony, inlaid with ivory, formerly belonging 
to the Spinola family ; also three ebony cabinets, containing 
some rare and excellent specimens of Limoges enamel, a very 




TKIlavwick Castle 355 

handsome table of Lavoro di Commesso, inlaid with flower 
patterns, and formerly belonging to Marie AiTtoinette. 

The Cedar Drawing-room is panelled and bordered with 
cedar, elaborately carved, and the pictures are as follows : 

''Pauline Adorne, Marchesa di Brignola, and her Son," by 
Van Dyck ; "Duke of Newcastle," copied from Van Dyck ; 
"James Graham, Marquis of Montrose" (1612-50), by Van 
Dyck; "Queen Henrietta Maria" (full length), the bust by 
Van Dyck, the rest of the picture completed by Sir Joshua 
Reynolds; "Charles I." (half length), by Van Dyck; "Robert 
Rich, Earl of Warwick" (died 1658), by Old Stone; "Beatrice 
Cosantia, Princess di Santa Croce," by Van Dyck. In the 
centre of the room is a fine Florentine mosaic table. On each 
side of the fireplace are busts of Henry, Earl of Warwick (died 
1853), by Nollekens, and Sarah, Countess of Warwick (died 
185 1), by Bonelli ; also a bust of Charles I., attributed to Ber- 
nini, a bust of " Proserpine," by Hiram Power, and a bust 
from the Giustiniani "Minerva." 

The Gilt Drawing-room contains the three oval portraits in 
panels, "Francis" (died 1643), "Robert" (died 1676), and 
" Fulke" (died 1710), sons of Robert, Lord Brooke (killed 1643), 
who followed him in succession; "Algernon Percy, Earl of 
"Northumberland," in armour (half length) (died 1668), by Dob- 
son ; "Earl of Strafford," in armour (half length) (1593-1641), 
by Van Dyck; "A Warrior," in black velvet doublet with wide 
sleeves, by Moroni; "Marquis of Huntley" (died 1649), by 
Van Dyck; "Charles 11."; "Charles I.," in a slashed robe and 
laced collar, copied from Van Dyck; "A Cavalier," in armour, 
with a red scarf and baton, by Van Dyck; "Queen Henrietta 
Maria," copied from Van Dyck; "Ignatius Loyola" (1491- 
1556), founder of the order of Jesuits (full length), by Rubens. 
This splendid example of the great Flemish painter was painted 



356 "MarwicF? Caetle 

for the Jesuits' College at Antwerp, and brought to England at 
the time of the French Revolution, when it was bought by 
George, second Earl of Warwick. "Robert Bertie, Earl of Lind- 
sey," by Cornelius Janssens. The Earl commanded the Royal 
forces at Edge Hill, where he was wounded and taken prisoner, 
dying while being conveyed from the field of battle to War- 
wick Castle. "Marquis D'Avila," by Van Dyck ; "William, 
Lord Brooke" (1694-1727), by Dahl ; "Mary, Lady Brooke," 
by Dahl ; " Portrait of a boy," by Van Dyck ; " Prince Rupert" 
(half length), by Van Dyck; "The Baptism of St John," 
painted on root of amethyst. In the centre of the room is an 
exquisite table in pietra dura, from the Grimani Palace at Venice. 
The surface is composed of hard and precious stones, such as 
agate, cornelian, chalcedony, jasper, and lapis lazuli, inlaid on a 
slab of marble ; the arms of the Grimani family, ensigned with 
badges representing the honours they attained, appear on shields 
at each corner. On the north side of the room are two beau- 
tiful early Italian marriage chests, the upper panels of which 
are delicately painted. There is also a charming statuette of 
Venus, modelled in wax, by John of Bologna. The wainscot 
masks a secret descending staircase. 

The State Bedroom opens ofl" the Gilt Drawing-room, and 
from the windows of this room the views in each direction are 
lovely in the extreme. Above, the cascade rippling over the 
weir amidst picturesque surroundings serves to animate the syl- 
van beauties of the scene ; while beneath, the vast cedar trees 
spread out their feathery foliage in unruffled and tranquil mag- 
nificence. In front, the twin streams of the Avon wind grace- 
fully along, glittering among old elms, in the boughs of which 
squirrels frisk about, while rooks caw in their topmost branches. 
The bed is of salmon-coloured damask, with coverlets and coun- 
terpanes of satin, richly embroidered with crimson velvet. 



I 
I 



I 




358 MarwicJi Caetle 

This, with the furniture in this room, was presented to George, 
second Earl of Warwick, by George III., and formerly belonged - 
to Queen Anne. On the north wall is some fine Brussels tap- 
estry, manufactured in 1604, and illustrating a garden attached 
to some mediaeval palace, probably the park at Brussels. The 
chimneypiece, executed by Westmacott, is of white marble 
and verd-antique. The room also contains a splendid Buhl 
wardrobe, a marquetry cabinet, a table inlaid with copper, 
brass, and steel ; and, in the window, a travelling trunk cov- 
ered with leather, formerly belonging to Queen Anne, and 
bearing her initials, A. R., surmounted by a crown. A picture 
by Kneller shows Queen Anne in a brocade dress with a collar 
and jewel of the Order of the Garter. 

The Boudoir stands at the end of the state apartments. 
The walls are panelled in white and gold, with pale-blue bro- 
cade, on which hang the following pictures: "Henry Vlll." 
(knee piece), by Hans Holbein the younger — a characteristic 
portrait of great power and vivid delineation, probably painted 
about 1540; " Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland," by Lely ; 
''Boar Hunt," by Rubens; "A Duel," by Huchtenburgh ; 
"William Russell, First Duke of Bedford" (died 1700); "St. 
Stephen," by Lorenzo di Credi ; "St. John," by Lorenzo di 
Credi ; "Two Pictures of Saints," by Andrea del Sarto ; "Anne, 
First Duchess of Bedford," daughter and sole heiress of Robert 
Carr, Earl of Somerset ; " Pieta, or Dead Christ," by L. Car- 
racci ; "A Reformer" (Miles Coverdale ?), by Willem van 
Mieris ; "Henry IV. of France," in plain black dress (small full- 
length copy), by W. Patoun ; " Head of Henry Vlll. when a 
Boy," by Van Dyck ; "St. Sebastian," by Van Dyck ; "Old 
Woman eating Pottage by Lamplight," by Gerhard Douw ; 
"Head of St. Jerome," by Rubens; "Card Players," by Teniers; 
"Madonna and Child," by Baroccio ; "Anne Boleyn " (small 



Marwicf? Castle 



359 



half-length) and "Mary Boleyn," by Hans Holbein the younger; 
"Sketch of the Four Evangelists," by Rubens; "Two Land- 
scapes," by Salvator 
Rosa. This room also 
contains a curious and 
highly finished clock, 
with the twelve princi- 
pal events in the life of 
the Saviour, enamelled 
in silver ; and the head 
of a Faun in white mar- 
ble, which belonged to 
the late Sir Charles 
Greville. 

Hence, a door in 
the wainscot leads to 
the Armoury Passage, 
where the pictures are 
as follows : " George 
Villiers, Duke of Buck- 
ingham, and his broth- 
er Francis, as boys," 
by Van Dyck ; "Sir 
C. J. Greville and the 
Duke of York," by Sir G. Hayter ; "Prince Rupert," and a 
number of miscellaneous portraits. The objects of interest are 
a cast of Oliver Cromwell's face after death ; a fine collection 
of mediaeval arms, comprising battle-axes, cross-bows, calivers, 
pikes, arquebuses, daggers, swords, etc. ; a suit of chain mail, 
a suit of Puritan armour, a Turkish beheading knife, and an 
intricate lock of exquisite workmanship from a convent. 

The Compass-room contains several interesting pictures : 




LADY WARWICK'S BOUDOIR 



36o MarwicI^ Castle 

" Head of an Old Man," by Rubens ; "St. Paul Lighting a Fire, 
Isle of Melita," and "St. Paul Shaking off the Viper," by Ru- 
bens; "Napoleon I.," by David; "Landscape," by Salvator 
Rosa; "Maximilian !., Emperor of Germany (1459-1519), and 
his Sister," by Lucas Cranach ; " A Storm and Wreck " and "A 
Sea-piece," by Willem Van de Velde the younger; "St. John"; 
"St. Peter in Prison" and "St. Peter Released from Prison," 
by Peter Neefs the younger ; " Bacchanalian Group," by Rubens; 
" Ecce Agnus Dei," by Tiepolo ; "Laughing Boy," by Murillo ; 
"Scene from the Merry Wives of Windsor/' by Stoddart ; 
"Head of an Old Man," by Rubens; "Small Coast Scene," by 
Willem Van de Velde the younger. 

In the Chapel Passage the pictures are: "Mother of Ru- 
bens," by Rubens; "David Ryckaert" (the painter), by Van 
Dyck ; " Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva " (1508-82), 
by Van Dyck; "Still Life," by Schaef; "Sarah, Countess of 
Warwick" (died 1851), by Sir G. Hayter ; "Duns Scotus," by 
Abraham Janssens ; " Diego Sarmiento de Acuna, Conde di Gon- 
domar" (Spanish Ambassador at the Court of James I.), by Van 
Dyck. Here are also a cleverly executed wood carving of the 
"Battle of the Amazons," after the painting by Rubens at Mu- 
nich ; and a fme bust of Edward the Black Prince (1330-76), by 
Chantrey. 

The Chapel contains a window of old painted glass, pre- 
sented by the Earl of Essex in 1759 ; in the west window is a 
headless statuette of a palmer, supposed to represent Guy, Earl 
of Warwick, in pilgrim's garb. 

The Great Dining-room was built by Francis, first Earl of 
Warwick, about the year 1770; it is gorgeous in carving and 
gilding in the taste of that period, and is lighted by a Genoese 
crystal chandelier. Pictures : " Large Equestrian Portrait of 
Charles I.," by Van Dyck; "Lions," by Rubens; "Augusta 



Marwicl? Castle 361 

of Saxe-Coburg, Princess of Wales (1719-72), with the hifant 
Prince, afterwards George III," by Philips ; " Frederick Louis, 
Prince of Wales " (1707-51), by Richardson. The frames of 
these two portraits are very fine, and said to be carved by 
Grinling Gibbons. 

The Billiard-room. — Pictures: "Joanna, Queen of Naples," 
ascribed by some to L da Vinci, but more probably by Giulio 
Romano — a fine picture ; "View of the Doge's Palace at Venice, 
with State Barges in the Foreground," by Canaletto ; "Staircase 
in the Doge's Palace," by Canaletto ; "Battle Piece," by Jacopo 
Cortese (11 Borgognone) ; Views by Canaletto; — "The Castle 
from the River, looking upwards towards the Bridge" ; " Barbi- 
can, with Guy's and Caesar's Towers, part of the town visible 
on the right " ; " Barbican and Towers, from the Courtyard " ; 
"Residential Portion of the Castle"; "The Castle from the 
Park." The room also contains two fine Portuguese cabinets, 
and, standing on a buffet, a beautiful collection of red lustre 
ware — i.e., a stone ware on the surface of which a lustre is 
brought out by burnt metallic oxides of brilliant colours. The 
billiard-table has representations of the Wars of the Roses 
carved on its panels. 

Red Sitting-room. — Pictures: "Fruit," by Scheff; "Portrait 
of a Man," with the inscription y^tatis suce 24 fortimce," by 
Porbus ; " Duke of Buckingham " ; " Duke de Ferrara," by Dosso 
Dossi ; "Two Heads of Old Men," by Rubens ; "The late Earl 
of Warwick," by Watts; "Study of a Head of a Female" 
(Saint), by Luini ; " Don Garcias de' Medici," who, at the age of 
fourteen, is said to have killed his brother, Giovanni, and to have 
been in turn stabbed to death, as an act of retribution, by his 
father, Cosimo de' Medici, in the year 1562; "Madonna and 
Child," on panel (unknown); "Margaret, Duchess of Parma," 
by Paolo Veronese ; " Boy and Dog," by Romney. 



362 Marwicft Castle 

Lord Warwick's Room. — ''Interior of a Church," by De 
rOrme; " Pictures of Saints," by Taddeo Gaddi; "The Saviour," 
in tapestry. In the chimneypiece in this room are marble me- 
dallions of considerable artistic merit. 

Inner Room.^" Louis XIV. of France on a Piebald Horse," 
by A. F. Van der Meulen ; " French Man-of-War," by Backhuy- 
sen ; " Head of a Cow," by Berghem ; " A Shipwreck," by Wil- 
lem Van de Velde the younger; "Small Sea-piece," by Brook- 
ing; "Interior of a Church," by Emanuel de Witte ; "On the 
Way to Market," by Jan Breughel (Velvet Breughel) ; "Guard- 
room," by Teniers ; "Boy in Armour," by Schalken ; "Martin 
Luther," by Hans Holbein the younger; "Tritons and Sea- 
horses," by Van Dyck. The mantelpiece is Italian, of fine 
workmanship. 

The Cedar Lobby. — Pictures: "Francis, Earl Brooke,"; 
"Schoolboy," by Sir J. Reynolds; "Two Portraits"; "Boy 
holding a Fish in one Hand and a Book in the other," by Rom- 
ney ; " Charles I. on Horseback" (small), by Van Dyck; "Cu- 
pids at Play," by Rubens. 

The Library was destroyed by the fire of 1871, and has since 
been restored. The ceiling is panelled and gilt, and the book- 
shelves are divided by nineteen pilasters, each of a different 
design, in the Renaissance style ; the principal ornamentation 
being medallions of very artistic execution. The sides of the 
doors are of exquisite Italian work, and the hooded marble chim- 
neypiece, from Venice, is of most graceful design. There is a 
small picture of Dudley, Earl of Leicester, by Van Dyck. 

The Shakespeare Room adjoins Cassar's Tower, and contains 
the following pictures : " Queen Elizabeth," by Quillim Stretes ; 
"Anne Russell, Eldest Daughter of Francis, Second Earl of Bed- 
ford, and Third Wife of Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick " ; 
"Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex" (1567— 1601); 



xraiarwici? Caetle 



363 



''Shakespeare Writing at a Lattice Window"; "John Locke" 
(1632 — 1704), by Kneller ; ''Oliver Cromwell" (1599—1658), by 
Walker; "Robert, Second Lord Brooke," attributed to Dobson : 
" Fulke Greville, First 
Lord Brooke" (copied 
from the original at 
Compton Verney), by 
Cousen ; "Sir Philip 
Sidney" (1554-86); 
"Shakespeare," at- 
tributed to Cornells 
Janssens ; " Lady and 
Child," supposed to 
be Mary, Queen of 
Scots and James I. ; 
" Mrs. Siddons with 
the Mask of Tragedy," 
by Sir Joshua Rey- 
nolds. 

The basement 
story of the Castle, 
which retains its mas- 
sive early architecture, is occupied by the domestic offices, 
of which, perhaps, the Great Servants' Hall is the most pic- 
turesque and interesting. 

Among the artistic treasures which the private apartments of 
the Castle contain is a unique collection of Shakesperean memo- 
rials, the most important of which are the only known manu- 
scripts of Shakespeare's plays, written before the close of the 
seventeenth century, and were collected by the Earl of Warwick. 
The first of these, understood to have been written in the year 
1 6 10, is the History of King Henry IV. (the two parts condensed 




Jh^j.'^ 



A CORNER IN LADY WARWICK'S ROOM 



364 IMHarwicFi Castle 

into one), consisting of fifty-tive sheets and a fly-leaf. It is be- 
lieved to be in the handwriting of Sir Edward Dering, of Sur- 
renden, in Kent, and to have been transcribed from some other 
manuscript, as no printed copy is known to contain its various 
corrections and alterations. The next is a volume of manuscript 
poetical miscellanies, including a manuscript copy of the tragedy 
of Julius CcBsar, transcribed in the reign of Charles II. From the 
very numerous variations in the manuscript from all the printed 
editions, it is clearly transcribed from some independent version ; 
and, judging from a technical direction regarding the descent of 
Pindarus in Act V., most probably from an ancient play-house 
copy. Among the rich collection of the poet's plays and works, 
the following are the most prominently noteworthy : 

Shakespeare Memorials : a fine copy of the Folio Edition of 
1623; Hamlet, 1607, 1637, 1676; "The Whole Contention be- 
tween the two Famous Houses, Lancaster and Yorke, etc.," 161Q 
(second part of King Henry VI.), King Lear, 1708 ; Macbeth, ex- 
tracted from the second folio edition (with manuscript alterations 
of the text in a very old hand) ; Merchant of Venice, 1600 ; Romeo 
and Juliet, 1599, with autograph of George Stevens. There is 
also a most interesting collection of wardrobe and property bills, 
for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, from 171 3 to 17 16, certified 
for payment by Cibber, Wilks and Booth. 

One of the most interesting places to visit is the lowest stage 
of Caesar's Tower. A descent of eight steps from the inner court 
leads to the doorway, and from this sixteen more conduct to the 
fioor of the dungeon, which is four or five feet below the general 
basement. It is a strong stone-vaulted chamber, seventeen feet 
four inches long, thirteen feet three inches wide, and fourteen 
feet six inches high. The roof is groined in two bays. On the 
south side is a plain semicircular-headed opening, admitting light 
from a deeply splayed window, six inches wide on the exterior. 



Marwick Castle 365 

On the north is a small square aperture to the inner court. On 
the south side also is a passage, separated from the prison by iron 
bars, so as to prevent access. On the walls near the window 
and door are rudely scratched letters, drawings of bows, cruci- 
fixes, escutcheons, etc., now nearly obliterated by damp, and the 
following inscriptions : 

" Master John Smyth Gvner to his Majestye highnes was a 
prisner in this place and lay here from 1642 tell . . ." 

" William Sidiate rote this same, and if my pen had bin bet- 
ter for his sake 1 would have mended every letter." 

Warwick Castle still stands almost by itself amongst Eng- 
lish castles. It not only brings before us the people whom it had 
witnessed itself, from William the Conqueror down to Queen 
Victoria, but it enables us to represent what the baronial castles — 
Kenilworth and a host of others, which have fallen into decay — 
once were : by it we can reconstruct their halls and their bowers, 
their chapels and their dungeons, and reproduce them to our- 
selves as they were when great kings and dukes and lords, who 
have long since crumbled into dust, filled them with their sound 
and fury, which now signify nothing : we can see the Beau- 
champs and the Nevills and the Plantagenets, and those that 
went before them and those that came after them, pass through 
its galleries in knightly procession : we can be present there with 
Queen Elizabeth and Lord Leicester when all was revelry and 
mirth ; or with the stout old Sir Edmund Peto, in that dark hour 
when he hung out a cross with a flag upon it in defiance of the 
Papists. As we walk from gallery to gallery, and from apartment 
to apartment, we can see, as in some splendid and stately 
museum, everything which has beautified and adorned the lives 
of seven centuries of English nobles. Over and above all this, 
we can see in Warwick Castle the continuity of English life, ever 
changing but yet ever the same ; and as we view objects which 



Awii 



366 Marwicft Castle 

illustrate the arts and fashions and tastes and fancies of a bygone 
world, we can feel conscious of the debt we owe to those who, 
mindful of the responsibility bequeathed to them, have not been 
backward in amassing treasures to be an " everlasting possession, 
not a sight to be seen and then forgotten." 




Hlnwick Castle 



367 




THE KEEP FROM BARNISIDE 



ALNWICK CASTLE^ 



BY A. H. MALAN 



FOR two centuries after leaving Normandy, the Percies had 
no property at Alnwick. The first of the stock to take 
root in English soil was William de Perci, who ac- 
companied the Conqueror's nephew, the year after Hastings. 
Whether that was his first visit is uncertain, — unshaven as a 
Saxon, he seems to have been already known among his trim 
compatriots by the nickname of Als Gernon ; at any rate, he 
received from the Conqueror, in 1067, the lands of Emma de 
Port, "who was lady of Semer beside Skarburgh afore the 
Conquest " ; making her his wife, however, without delay, in 
order to square his conscience. After Gospatrick's rebellion, 
in such favour was Perci as to get thirty-eight grants in Lin- 
colnshire and eighty-six in Yorkshire ; among the latter being 
the lordship of Whitby, where he subsequently built the Abbey, 
on the site of St. Hilda's Priory. 

' Copyright 1899 by William Waldorf Astor. 
369 



370 ainwicK Castle 

In the troublous times of Stephen, the Northern chieftains 
were in their element — levying forces, imposing taxes, and fili- 
bustering to their hearts' content ; and it seems to have been 
the son of that fourth Percy who took Stephen's side and helped 
to rout the Scots at Northallerton, in 1137, who presently, with 
two other barons, violated the sanctuary of Saint Hilda's chapel 
by rushing in after a wounded boar and slaying the protesting 
priest : in expiation of which outrage, later on, "Whitby's nuns 
exulting told, how to their house three barons bold must menial 
service do," by annually bringing faggots on their backs, to mend 
the pier. Other generations succeeded to the northern property, 
until, by the marriage of Agnes de Perci with Jocelyn de Lou- 
vaine, there came Petworth, as a wedding present from Jocelyn's 
half-sister (Henry the First's second wife), offering an alternative 
residence in the south. Subsequently, when the tenth baron 
nearly killed the Lord Justiciary in Westminster Hall, for giving 
an adverse judgment, (for which pleasantry he had to pay to 
the tune of ten thousand marks,) the Percy of the period gave 
proof of that fiery, belligerent spirit, which was to be so emi- 
nently serviceable to his descendants in the turbulent life of 
the Border. 

For the connection of the Percies with Alnwick began at the 
commencement of that protracted strife between the northern 
and southern kingdoms, lasting from the end of the thirteenth 
to the end of the fifteenth century, which served to make the 
marches "a savage and wylde country, full of desartes, and a 
ryghte pore country of everything, saving of beestis." Edward's 
vassal John Baliol might call himself, but the Scots would have 
none of such suzerainty ; and Sir Henry Percy, proving himself 
one of Edward's ablest assistants, was given custodianship of 
the Border fortresses, and made Commissioner for the submis- 
sion of the Border chiefs. Then vowing, at Karlaverock, "to 



m 



I 



ainwicli Castle 373 

ride roughshod over the Scots," the Knight so well kept his 
vow (though finding his match in Wallace) as to be recom- 
pensed with the lordship of Alnwick ; at which time the Castle 
is believed to have covered its present area. 

The oldest existing portions of Alnwick were built by Eus- 
tace Fitzjohn, husband of Beatrix, heiress of Yvo de Vesci ; and 
the Castle was so far completed by him that, as early as 1135, it 
is spoken of as being strongly fortified. It remained in that fam- 
ily until William de Vesci, failing legitimate heirs, assigned it, in 




PRUDHOE TOWER, CHAPEL, ETC. 



trust for his natural son, to Beke, Bishop of Durham, by whom 
it was sold to Sir Henry Percy. 

In his brief five years' occupation, the new owner managed 
to reconstruct the stronghold almost throughout ; and as you 
approach the Castle from Narrowgate you are at once confronted 
by his work. For here stands the Barbican, blackened and 
weathered with centuries of smoke and storm, with its two 
turrets and archway as it was when he built it. As it was, 
also, when, in 1388, Hotspur and his knights sallied out under 
the Lion of Louvaine, to meet and fight the Douglas, (but surely 
not to slay him, since Hotspur was captured,) at Otterbourn ; 
and, again, when, in 1402, he went forth to Homildon and 
decimated the Scots, and then, enraged at not being allowed 



374 ainwicF? Castle 

to ransom his prisoners according to custom, drew his rapier 
at his liege; — passing on "to purge the country of its oppres- 
sor," as he thought, but to meet his own fate at Shrewsbury — 
the first of a race predestined to have their heads impaled on 
stakes for some generations to come. Outside the Barbican, or, 
as some say, between it and the Gatehouse, was a drawbridge 
and portcullis. Within the Gatehouse, let us pause a moment, 
to get a general idea of things before proceeding. 

To the extreme left, the Abbot's Tower, and well to the 
right, the Auditor's Tower, are both of first Percy date {c. 1310), 
Between these points, the Falconer's Tower is modern, but on 
an old base ; in fact, the curtains, garrets and bartizans of both 
Courts have ubiquitous indications of early fourteenth-century 
masonry distributed throughout them. Facing us, and too close 
for a good effect, is the massive Prudhoe Tower, then the Chapel, 
then state-bedrooms, then private apartments ; and though most 
of the ashlar work of this undulating outline may be modern, the 
whole fafade is much the same as of yore ; an ancient ground- 
plan showing the grouping of towers to have been almost identi- 
cal : indeed, with one exception, the lower courses of them all 
are probably ancient. Yonder second Gatehouse, also, is of the 
same era ; between it and the Auditor's Tower there is a patch 
of one thousand one hundred and fifty curtain. What is so 
completely changed is, not the general arrangement of the 
Courts and Keep, but the life within. 

For three centuries Border life was one long story of burn- 
ing, rapine, plunder. "My lord of Northumberland hath in- 
dented with the King for the keeping out of the Scots and 
warring upon them," formed the terms on which the Warden 
of the Marches held his lands of the Crown ; and as the mer- 
cenaries cost a good deal to the English Exchequer, they were 
" not to lie still, but be occupied as often as may be, to the 




THE BARBICAN, ALNWICK CASTLE 





375 



376 ainwlcl? Castle 

damage of the enemy." Here are a few items: — At Dunbar, 
twenty thousand Scots were accounted for by Sir Henry Percy 
and Sir Hugh Spenser. In 1438, the second Earl of Northum- 
berland (Hotspur's son) enclosed and fortified the town of Aln- 
wick ; thirteen years later came the Scots and laid the town in 
ashes. In 1528, a Warden's Court was held at Alnwick, when 
nine were beheaded and five hanged for march-treason and 
felony, in 1570, the Scots having been extra-vexatious, Eliza- 
beth's troops ravaged Teviot-dale and the neighbourhood, and 
boasted not only of having levelled fifty castles, but of having 
burnt five hundred villages. And in this internecine warfare 
there was not a pin to choose between Scots and English ; 
both were like "wilde wolfis in furiositie"; the stronger pack 
for the time being, naturally getting the best of it. 

All then was bustle and animation within the ramparts. 
This Baly would resound with the bellowing of cattle hurriedly 
driven in for safety, if not reved from a raid ; with the neighing 
of the hoblars' ponies, or the tramp of the troopers at drill. 
Outside, too, every man was perforce a fighter. When the 
Scots were on the warpath, "the cursed thieves of the Tin- 
dale " were abroad, Armstrongs had left their earths, or the 
Liddesdale outlaws were up, then Pele would answer Pele, and 
beacon beacon ; and as, in response, the Castle guard rushed 
out to the fray, it could count on the country-side, since any 
laggard, who rallied not to the Azure Lion and the slogan 
Esperance Percy, well knew he stood the best chance, after- 
wards, of having his possessions forfeited, as a warning to 
other cravens. 

Always a refuge, and barracks — over three thousand men, 
besides horses, for example, were maintained within the walls 
throughout 13 14, during all which year the Scots were pressing 
the gates — at times the Castle would be the headquarters of the 



ainwicF? Castle 



Z11 



Chief and his staff ; and since Northumbria acknowledged no 
Prince but a Percy, and the Percy's retinue must be as the Court 
of a Prince, the coming and going of Northumberland Heralds, 
Bannerets and their 
pennon-bearers, Offi- 
cers of arms. Esquires, 
and archers — ''some 
in velvett, others in 
damaske and cham- 
lett" — would make the 
whole place bright and 
lively enough. 

But in these ultra- 
prosaic days of ours, 
when such camp-life 
has all passed, and the 
garrison at full strength 
musters but one police- 
man and a watchman, 
some strong set-off is 
needed to the solemn 




DRAW-WELL AND NORMAN ARCH IN KEEP COURT 



quietude of the colour- 
less enceinte; and that is seductively supplied by the interior. 
Before making its acquaintance, however, we must go 
through the farther gateway, to the two octagonal towers in 
the inner Baly, erected by the second Percy (1350), whose 
prowess at Neville's Cross formed the theme of many a ballad. 
Beneath the string-course in the upper stage of these towers 
are shields of Bohun, Lancaster, Arundel, Neville, etc.; above 
them the old figures in stone are carved with considerable 
spirit and vigour : one lifts some missile to the level of his 
head, another strings his cross-bow with foot and hand, a third 



2>7^ ainwicK Castle 

presents his shield, a fourth hurls down a rock. These figures 
are part and parcel of the merlons, not affixed to them. 

At the foot of these towers was another drawbridge ; and in 
the basement of the right-hand one is a prison, with a square hole 
in the floor, admitting to a dungeon beneath. Let us trust the lat- 
ter was used only for the solitary confinement of contumacious 
prisoners, and never with the ulterior purpose of an oubliette. 
History records one instance, at least, when this prison would 
have been used : namely when, in 1527, Sir William Lisle and his 
merry men burnt, pillaged, robbed, reved, and heried ; but at 
length, worn out with being hunted down by hound and horn, 
surrendered to the Earl of Northumberland ; meeting him, as he 
writes, "as I came from mass, in ther shertes with halters 
abowtes ther nekkes — whych persons I stryghtway comytted 
into prisons within my pouer Castell of Alnewyk." 

Released from prison by special grace of the Constable, we 
may now enter the Keep under De Vesci's Norman archway, 
pass the ancient necessary draw-well, and cross the Keep-court, 
dismissing all ideas of Border-warfare, preparatory to being shown 
round the rooms. 

People sometimes wonder that the kernel of Alnwick should 
not be in keeping with the shell. But what would they ? It 
was never a private residence till modern times. A Warden of 
the Marches had to sojourn in whichever of his fortresses circum- 
stances might dictate, carrying his household goods and gods 
along with him. Even under the regime of Henry Algernon, 
''the magnificent," — Hume politely calls him a "Tartar chief," — 
who, when conducting Princess Margaret to the Border, "what 
for the ryches of his cote, being goldsmyth's worke garnyshed 
with perle and stone, and what for the gallant trappings of his 
henxmen, was esteemed more like a prince than a subject," — 
even under this fifth Earl, only two of the Percy castles were at 




ainwicft Castle ^79 

all furnished : all domestic apparatus going to and fro, in the 

lord's equipage, from place to place. In fact, so little was 

Alnwick a family dwelling-place, that sixty years later we find 

the surveyor advising _ 

that, in consequence of 

the violence of the east 

winds — they certainly 

are bad at Alnwick — the 

casements should be 

taken out during the f 

lord's absence, to be put 

in again at his return. 

So that when the fourth 

THE RAVINE TOWER, FROM THE BATTLEMENTS 

Duke determined to do 

up the inside, he was not hampered by many interesting old 
fittings which ought to be preserved ; on the contrary, such 
Georgian Gothic decoration as had recently been introduced 
was far better away. Thus, in providing himself with a ducal 
residence, the restorer had a perfectly free hand ; and the style 
he chose was that of an Italian palace of the sixteenth century. 

The key to the situation is the Guard-room, approached from 
the State-entrance by a broad staircase, wainscotted with white 
marble relieved by red granite panels. The floor is of that 
mosaic known as Venetian pavement, made by taking fragments 
of marble, assorted as to tint, but of no particular shape, em- 
bedding them according to design, and then, when the uneven 
surface is ground smooth, colouring the cement to match the 
pieces. On the walls are statues, in Sicilian marble, of Britannia 
and Justice ; with a frieze by Gotzenberg, depicting four scenes 
from the ballad of Chevy Chace, some of the incidents of which 
may well have happened, what time Hotspur's men poached 
Douglas's deer, or vice versa, and retaliation followed. 



38o ainwicn Castle 

Then comes the ante-room, where is especially observable 
an oak cabinet, made in the Castle studio, from some of the piles 
of Hadrian's Bridge duly ebonised by seventeen centuries of 
brackish Tyne silt. Unfortunately, among the pretty things on 
its trays, is neither that " rynge of gold enamel " brought to the 
Earl of Northumberland from Mary Stuart, at Clifford moor, 
" requyring him to remember his promise " ; nor that thorn from 
the Saviour's Crown, also her gift, which he wore on his neck in 
a gold cross. This cabinet well testifies to the consummate skill 
of the Alnwick wood-carvers, who seem equally at home on the 
boldest design, for massive picture-frame or ceiling in soft wood, 
as upon the minutest detail that tool can grave or hard wood 
take. For the Restorer resolved to have all carvings done locally, 
upon finding how cleverly his men caught on to the Italian style, 
and how quickly the late Mr. John Brown, after acquiring all that a 
Buletti could teach, became able (along with his assistants) to put 
into execution the most intricate quinque-cento pattern that a 
Montirolli could design ; the results of their labours are here 
everywhere visible, in shutters, doors, dados, picture-frames, 
furniture, and ceilings. 

One such ceiling is in the Library, adjoining. It is fashioned 
of yellow pine painted and gilded, and is constructed in four com- 
partments, with octagonal devices representing History, Poetry, 
Painting, and Physical Sciences. We can take for granted the 
fifteen thousand volumes on the shelves, but must stop to have a 
look at the huge Missal of Sherborne Abbey. The parchment 
leaves are twenty and one-half inches by fourteen inches ; the 
letters are half an inch long ; the lettering is arranged in double 
column ; July i8th is marked as Dedioacio Ecdesiae Sancte Ma He 
Schyrh ; there are portraits of some of the Bishops with their 
names : the date of the work being between 1396 and 1407. In- 
teresting to students of the Prayer-book,, as containing some 



ainwic?i Castle 



381 



variations from the Sarum Use, it is in other respects not to 
be compared with the smaller missals in the case beneath. 
One of these was 
made for Margaret, 
Queen of Scotland; 
and her "effigies," 
with the autograph 
of her father, Hen- 
ry VII., appears on 
the frontispiece. 
Another was illu- 
mined for William 
Cotton, temp. 
Henry VI. Anoth- 
er served for Anne 
Boleyn's devotion- 
al exercises ; hav- 
ing the text of 
Ecclesiastes in 
French, with anno- 
tations in English. 
Nothing could be 
more exquisite 
than the colouring 
of, say, the butterflies in these missals, and one might linger a 
long while without wearying of the beauty and delicacy of the 
illuminations. 

Across the ante-room is the Saloon ; than which there are 
finer rooms, but none more pleasing. The play of light streaming 
into the deep bay through those lunette-headed windows, and 
throwing the walnut carving on the shutters into strongest relief ; 
the general shape and size of the room ; the elaborate, highly 




THE LIBRARY 



o 



82 Hlnwick Castle 



coloured ceiling, by its reflexion in the mirror supported by 
Nucci's Dacian slaves, showing how symmetrical are its sections 
with the area it has to cover; the warm frieze, and gold satin 
damask hangings — all combine to make this music-room alto- 
gether lovely. It is here that the large mural fresco, " Salutation 
of the Virgin," outlined by Michael Angelo and filled in by 
Sebastian del Piombo, is to be found, in two portions ; also "Pope 
Paul 111.," by Titian ; and a perishing Ferrara. 

The Drawing-room, next door, is a very similar state-room, 
but on a larger scale ; crimson and gold being the dominant 
colours. It contains, "The Gods enjoying the Fruits of the 
Earth," of which the figures are by Gian Bellini, and the landscape 
by his pupil, Titian ; also parts of a diptych by Raffael, and a 
"Sunset" of Claude, as met with in Volume I., of his Liber 
Veritatis. 

Next comes the Dining-room, occupying the site of the first 
Percy banquet-hall, but in other respects modern. In this ceiling 
neither the carvings of pine nor the grounds of cedar are coloured 
in any way ; but such wood-work in its natural, uncoloured state 
has this merit, as viewed from below, that the tone tends to grow 
warmer and mellower with age. The pictures here are all family 
portraits. The place of honour, over the chimneypiece by Tac- 
calozzi (ornamentation), and Nucci and Strazza (statuary), is 
given to the first Duke and his Duchess. The latter in all her 
robes and grandeur can scarcely be imagined writing to her 
mother in this prim, school-girl style : — " I shall proceed to tell 
you that Sir Hugh Smithson the other day asked me to let him 
speak to me, which was to inform me that he designed proposing 
himself to my Pappa. You will easily guess how much I was 
surprised and confounded at so extraordinary a compliment." 
Such maiden modesty was the more remarkable, considering she 
was the granddaughter of that " Proud Duke " of Somerset, who 



ainwici? Castle 



383 



carried his pride so far, they say, as to protest, when his second 
wife tapped him on the shoulder, that his first Duchess, though a 
Percy, never took 
such a liberty as 
that! (That first 
Duchess was the 
Lady Elizabeth 
Percy, previously 
wedded to Henry, 
Earl of Ogle, and to 
Thomas Thynne.^ 
Then there is 
a portrait of the 
seventh Earl, who 
sided with Mary 
Stuart, and, along 
with Lord West- 
morland, drifted 
from conspiracy 
into rebellion ; 
urged on to some 
extent by the Pope, 
but more particu- 
larly by the captive Duke of Norfolk's sister. Lady Westmor- 
land, who, when her husband and his ally hung back, "braste 
out against them with great curses " ; so that eventually they 
marched on Durham, expelled the Bishop, had mass in the Ca- 
thedral, and bonfired the Protestant prayer-books. Whereupon 
Elizabeth caused Northumberland's "creste, disappor, helme, 
and mantle to be spurned out of the Chapel and uttermost 
gates of Windsor," proclaimed the two Earls traitors, and 

' See " Haidwick," and " Longleat." — Ed. 




THE DRAWINQ-ROOM 



384 ainwick Castle 

despatched a force to the North. Alnwick Castle was seized 
and spoiled ; Percy, seeking refuge among the fastnesses of Lid- 
desdale, was at length trapped by Hector Armstrong, handed 
over to the Regent, and in the end beheaded at York. 

Another picture represents the ninth Earl, who was supposed 
to be betrothed to Arabella Stuart. He lived much in London ; 
went in for clairvoyance in a "speculative glass" ; was present 
with Raleigh, as a volunteer, at the siege of Ostend under Sir F. 
Vere ; then espoused the cause of James, to unite the two King- 
doms and stop Border warfare. Unjustly suspected of com- 
plicity in the Gunpowder Plot, he was lodged as a State prisoner 
in the Tower ; where his incarceration was made very bearable, 
what with his books, his play with Raleigh, his researches in the 
occult, and the company of those wise men who came to visit him, 
and who, no doubt, appreciated his Muscatel and Hypocras, not 
less than his learning. His crystal-gazing in no way interfered 
with his shrewd good sense, much of which he embodied in his 
Instructions to my Son (as if sons did not know more than their 
fathers) ; one of his maxims being "that you understand your 
estate generally better than any of your officers" ; another, "that 
the way to secure the necessary obedience, awe, and contented- 
ness of servants" is "to left them fynd that ye nede them nott, 
and that yf one be gone to-day ye can make another do your 
business to-morrow." With a supercilious contempt for women, 
he considered them " incapable of making progress in any learn- 
ing, save love, craft, and thriftiness," and blames them for their 
defective spelling ! All that wives are fit for, he affirmed, is "to 
bring up their children in their long-cote age, to obey their hus- 
bands, and have a care, when great personages visit them, to sit 
at the end of a table and carve handsomely " ; not but what he 
would allow them "a littell wasting of sleeve-silk, so perhaps, 
in two or three ages, a Bed embroidered with slippes may be 




385 



386 ainwick Castle 

finished, or in some lesse time a Purse, or a paire of Hangers." 
Probably the Wizard Earl was far too canny to air these senti- 
ments before his wife, though such a lofty tone might do for his 
son ; while, to belie his words, there was a very near relative of 
his, Lady Carlisle, at that moment "swaying the Council of 
Kings with a smile, and defeating the machinations of statesmen 
with an epigram," as an instance of what could be and was 
being done by a clever and fascinating woman. 

At the farther end of the Dining-room is a portrait of the 
Restorer; and in a corridor leading back to the Guard-room, 
amongst pictures which include Landseer's "Return from Deer- 
stalking," and Canaletto's view of the Castle, there is hung 
Lucy's " Chasing the French Fleet into Toulon " ; in which 
action the fourth Duke served under Admiral Lord Exmouth. 

Close to the Guard-room is the Chapel. It has a vaulted 
and groined stone roof; also a wide Alexandrine mosaic frieze, 
of which the component pieces, of porphyry, serpentine, giallo, 
and other hard stones, are faced with such extreme nicety and 
finish that- not a vestige of cement is to be detected between 
the tight joints. We are now in the other half of the Keep ; 
and after passing two state bedrooms reach the Duchess's Bou- 
doir, there to be absolutely enchanted by the chimneypiece. 
In this beautiful piece of work, devices of roses and fruit, with 
high light, half-tone, and shade exquisitely rendered in selected 
marbles, are let into panels of lapis lazuli, the brilliant blue of 
which contrasts with the snowy Carrara slabs in which these 
panels are themselves set ; and this admirable composition is, 
as it were, accentuated by Raffael's " Madonna del Garofani " and 
Salvati's "Holy Family," each in a boxwood frame made in 
Alnwick, of equal merit as to craftsmanship, though in another 
branch of art. 

Omitting other rooms, a corridor, forming a second library, 



ainwick Caetle 



387 



conducts to the Auditor's Tower, where are kept the Percy 
Papers, the Household Book, temp. Henry VIII., and, among 
other things, that vol- 
ume known in the 
Shakespeare-Bacon con- 
troversy as the North- 
umberland House MS. 
i.e. — Bacon's Conference 
of Pleasure. This is pre- 
ceded by a front leaf 
which originally formed 
the wrapper of a parcel 
then containing not 
only this Conference, 
"By Francis Bacon" (as 
it affirms), but also the 
plays Richard II. and 
Richard III. — which 
plays had vanished be- 
fore the volume was bound. The curious feature is the name 
William Shakespeare scribbled several times on the front page ; 
not in the hand that wrote out the contents of the parcel, but 
to all appearance the same hand that wrote the manuscript which 
follows ; while, besides this, there occurs also the word Honori- 
ficaUlitudino — supposed to be an anagram embodying the fact 
that Bacon wrote the plays within the wrapper : i.e., ab initio 
hi ludi F. Bacono. 

The Castle Museums are in the towers of the inner Baly. 
In the lower storey of the Postern Tower, given up to inscribed 
stones, is a broken slab, with characteristic interlaced work, 
commemorating /Edulf, who in the eighth century besieged 
Berchtfrid, Osred's guardian, in royal Bamburgh ; some blocks 




RAFFAEL'S MADONNA DEL QAROFANI " 



388 ainwicF; Caetle 

with rock-markings ; some altars (mostly focus-less) and tomb- 
stones, from stations along the Roman wall ; and among the 
tombstones the pathetic inscription — y^miUanus annorum X may 
denote one of many victims to the inclement climate of the 
North. In the storey above is a silver copy of the Roman Lanx. 
The Lanx itself was found at Corbridge in 1735, and weighs one 
hundred and forty-nine ounces ; the material is silver, and the 
design — Apollo, Minerva, and Diana, interviewing the Pythian 
priestess, — is in low relief, partly embossed, partly finished with 
the graver. The miscellaneous collection, mostly from the local- 
ity, comprises Roman, Celtic, and Saxon objects ; there are some 
Celtic brooches, and a few of these Saxon fib idee in which Lord 
Braybrook's museum at Audley End is so rich. That the small, 
much thought of, Roman Caistor-bowl has on it a Labarum, is, 
pace the erudite Catalogue, most questionable ; though the two 
Swastikas on an altar downstairs are obvious enough. 

More interesting, perhaps, to some — considerably more valu- 
able as a collection — are the Egyptian antiquities in the Ravine 
Tower, got together by the fourth Duke ; who, in having a 
British frigate at his disposal for some years in Egyptian waters, 
and in being a personal friend of the Khedive, had quite a unique 
opportunity of collecting. Rings, amulets, small images of the 
gods as deposited in tombs, mummified cats, etc., are here in 
abundance ; and, conspicuous among the large objects, is an 
obelisk "set up by Harmachis, son of the Sun," presented to 
Lord Prudhoe by Mohammed Ali, Pasha. 

We might perhaps leave the precincts by the sally-port, and 
so get down to that Lion Bridge so often seen in photographs of- 
the Castle ; but the more usual way out is back by the Barbican 
into the town. And singularly fortunate are the townsfolk in 
having so close at hand such a splendid recreation-ground as 
Hulne Park. 




CANALETTO'S VIEW OF THE EAST FRONT OF ALNWICK CASTLE 



389 



390 



ainwicFi Castle 



What could be more delightful than the breezy drive up to 
Brislee, and the view from the menhir when you get there ; or 
better still the panorama from the tower top? Westward, the 

wooded crown descends 
rapidly to stretches of 
undulating moors which 
rise in receding ridges 
and hollows till they 
culminate in the Cheviot 
range ; northward, more 
wild scenery, a loch, and 
the Aln winding through 
the vale ; eastward, the 
better part of the North- 
umberland coast, from 
the Fame Islands down 
to Warkworth, or be- 
yond. 

If the view were 
very beautiful on one of 
those east-windy days 
in April when the very 
pines were protesting in sullen moan, what must it be of a 
still August evening, when the sunset brushes beech and birch 
and fir with a golden glamour; and after that the far-extending 
slopes become purpled with the mystic glow of heather, and 
the nightjar's soothing rattle alone breaks the dewy hush of 
twilight ! 

Winding round and down, and through covers where wood- 
cocks breed, the drive lands you eventually at Hulne Abbey. 
One of the towers was erected by the fourth Earl of Northum- 
berland, who was murdered at Topcliff, apparently for the sole 




THE CASTLE FROM THE DAIRY GROUND" 



ainwicli Castle 



391 



crime of not diplomatically watering down the reply of Henry 
of Richmond to the men of Yorkshire and Durham, on their 
asking to be let off some taxes — the reply being that "the 
King's decrees are not to 
be vilipended by his rude 
and rusticall people." 
Unable to get rid of either 
the taxes or the King, the 
rusticall people got rid 
of the Earl instead ; the 
King promptly ordering 
a public funeral "on a 
scale of unprecedented 
magnificence," the cost 
of which he thought the 
family should feel hon- 
oured in defraying! On 
the tower in question is 
this inscription : 

" In the year Crist 
Ihu, MCCCC wi VIII. 

This Tow'r was bilded by Sir Henry Percy, the fourthe Erie of 
Northumberland, of gret hon' and worth, that espoused Maud 
y« good lady full of v'tew and bewt', daughter to Sir Wilm. 
Harbirt, right noble and hardy Erie of Pembrock, whose soulis 
God save and with his grace co'sarve y^ bilder of this Tow'r." 

The site for the Abbey is said to have been chosen by John 
de Vesci in 1265, from its resemblance to what he had seen in 
the Holy Land ; and whether or not the eminence opposite be 
like Carmel, or the Aln like that ancient Kishon, the view is 
certainly extremely pleasing ; so pleasing, that the plateau in 
front is annually used for a certain picnic from Alnwick ; when, 




GARRET ON BATTLEMENTS OF KEEP 



392 ainwicti Castle 

little though the scene needs improving, a pretty frock or two 
may give just that Turneresque dash of colour in the foreground 
v^^hich arrests the eye and completes the picture. 

Descending to the riverside, we soon pass a limpid basin 
styled the Lady's Well — where surely that altar in the Museum 
''dedicated to the nymphs worthy to be worshipped" should 
have come from ; shortly after are observed some good silver firs 
by the roadside ; farther on is a fine larch by the Duchess's bridge; 
and, at a little distance beyond that, we come to Alnwick Abbey 
Gateway. Founded in 1147 by Eustace Fitzjohn, for a colony of 
white canons, the buildings once covered a large space, as may 
be well seen from the opposite bank of the river. For recent 
excavations resulted in laying bare the foundations of the Abbey 
itself, with its chapels and chapter-house, and also the founda- 
tions of the Prater, calefactorium, etc., and the position of these 
has now been permanently recorded by lines of clinkers being 
accurately laid down flush with the turf, after the earth was 
again filled in. From this point to the Lion Bridge the ornamen- 
tal trees bespeak pleasure-grounds rather than a Park ; and the 
river, here broadened out and of smooth current, is enlivened by 
wild-duck and geese of various sorts — badly ballasted Chinese, 
down by the bows ; noisy Canadians, that ought to fly high in 
air up the reach or right away, but do not ; quaint New Hollands, 
like lesser bustards in build ; elegant little Brents ; and pugna- 
cious, cinnamon-tailed Egyptians, humping their backs, just as 
they are drawn on a cartouche. 

Did we follow the river a few miles down, we should arrive 
at Alnwick's little watering-place, Al-ne-mooth, or Ailmouth, as 
you may think fit to pronounce it ; a station or so beyond, by 
rail, is Warkworth. Warkworth Hermitage the visitor would 
be well advised to try and see. It is a small chapel situated 
on the brink of the lordly Coquet, singularly complete in all its 



ainwtck Castle 



09. 




A VIEW IN THE DAIRY GROUND' 



details, but quite invisible from the river-walk, except as to its 
window, being excavated in the heart of the sandstone rock. 
From the tracery, 
etc., it is conjec- 
tured to have been 
fabricated — by re- 
moval of the sand- 
stone piecemeal — 
in the time of the 
third Baron Percy, 
{p. 1350) as a chan- 
try where masses 
should be held for 
his departed wife, 
whose recumbent 
effigy lies south of the altar, with her husband's figure at its 
feet, in bacinet, hauberk and pourpoint. 

In 1531, the then Earl of Northumberland assigned twenty 
marks annually to Sir George Lancaster for masses, granting him 
'* myn armytage bilded in a rock of stone " ; and certain later 
walling, in front of the face of the rock, is probably of the latter 
date. 

Of Warkworth Castle I am unable to say anything, though 
making the expedition on purpose to see it. For being taken 
off from the Hermitage, in the cause of Northumbrian archae- 
ology, to photograph some rock-markings — they proved, by the 
way, to be quite an exception to the usual kind of scribings, 
being spirals, and not concentric circles — the afternoon was so 
far advanced on our return that it was a question of Castle, or 
tea. None will doubt which choice we made ; for, in spite of 
his pretensions, the average antiquarian's zeal is altogether a 
thing of nought when his creature comforts are at stake. 



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